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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



COMMON-SENSE VIEW 



OF THE 



Books of the Old Testament. 



RUFUS P. STEBBINS, D.D., 

FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF THE MEADVILLE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, 
AND AUTHOR OF "a STUDY OF THE PENTATEUCH." 



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BOSTON: 
UNITARIAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL SOCIETY. 
1885. 



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Copyright, 1885, 
By the Unitarian Sunday-School Society. 



University Press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



DEDICATION. 

To the churches of which I have been the pastor ; to the Bible 
classes which I have taught during half a century ; but more espe- 
cially to the graduates of the Meadville Theological School who were 
under my care, and to the two hundred young men of Cornell Uni- 
versity who not only listened to my Biblical teaching but also ear- 
nestly and repeatedly requested me to publish the views which were 
to them so satisfactory, — this book is dedicated, in the hope that it 
may keep my memory fresh in the ?ninds and hearts of those with 
whom I have shared so many joys, and from whom I have received 
so many favors. 

R. P. S. 

Newton Centre, Mass., 
A ugust, 1885. 



PREFACE. 



Had the author of this book lived to write its preface, he 
would have stated with characteristic force and clearness the 
reasons which led him to prepare the work. The present 
writer recalls the earnest manner in which Dr. Stebbins 
often spoke of the pressing need of such a book. The 
average reader of the Bible, he argued, is shut out from 
that knowledge of Biblical criticism which has made the Old 
Testament a new volume to the modern theological student. 
He felt that liberal scholarship should do something to make 
known to our young people, who seldom study the Old Tes- 
tament as they study English or German literature, and to 
busy men and women who have no time for critical inquiries 
or historical researches, the inestimable value of the Hebrew 
Scriptures. To this end he wrote the present work, using 
many of the lectures which he had originally prepared for 
his Bible-classes and theological students, but throughout 
the book addressing the common reader, to whom he would 
give, in the words of its title, "a co7n?non-sense view of the 
books of the Old Testament." He hoped in this way to 
accomplish two objects : on the one hand to remove from 
these precious fragments of Hebrew literature the incrusta- 
tions of ancient errors, dogmatic prepossessions, and super- 
stitious fancies under which the Old Testament has been 



VI PREFACE. 

worshipped as a fetich or discarded as a relic ; and on the 
other hand to give to the ordinary Bible-reader such infor- 
mation concerning the age, character, and contents of the 
Old Testament books as would enable him rightly to appre- 
hend and fully to appreciate their literary excellence and 
their spiritual worth. 

At a time when the new Revised Version of the Old Tes- 
tament is calling popular attention to the Hebrew Scriptures, 
this volume, the outcome of patient study, ripe scholarship, 
and a consecrated spirit, is sent forth in the hope that as a 
manual for Bible-classes, as well as a book for the individual 
reader, it may be a bringer of light and an aid to faith ; — a 
helper to that trust in the Eternal, and that loyalty to right- 
eousness, which make the Old Testament writers the sources 
of an ever-fresh inspiration to all, in every age and nation, 
who seek to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with their God. 

H. G. S. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. STEBBINS. 



BY REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES. 



Rufus Phineas Stebbins was born at South Wilbraham, 
Mass., March 3, 18 10. He grew up under the discipline of 
poverty and hard work. By his unaided efforts, — teaching 
school in the winter, toiling on the farm during vacations, — 
he fitted himself for college and paid his expenses while 
there, graduating at Amherst in 1834. He had been reared 
under the influence of Methodism, his mother being a devoted 
member of that church ; and up to the time of his entering 
college he had hardly known of any other faith. Some work 
by Dr. Channing which fell into his hands led him to a care- 
ful reading of the Bible with reference to its theological 
teachings; and the result of a long and patient study was 
the acceptance of Unitarian views, to the preaching of which 
he then consecrated his life. 

Entering the Divinity School at Cambridge, he pursued 
the usual course of study, and graduated in the class of 
1837, of which Henry W. Bellows and Edmund H. Sears 
were members. In September following he was ordained 
and settled over the Unitarian church in Leominster, having 
been united in marriage the week before with Miss Eliza 
Livermore, of Cambridgeport. The next seven years of his 
life were spent in the care of this large and flourishing 



Vlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

parish, in the preparation of boys for college, and in the 
oversight and tutorship of boys " rusticated " from college. 
As a teacher and disciplinarian he was eminently successful. 
What he knew he knew thoroughly, and could state forcibly 
and in an interesting manner. Never was he more happy 
than when engaged with a class of Sunday-school teachers 
in the study of the Scriptures. 

His ability as a teacher and organizer led to his selection 
for the presidency of the Meadville Theological School, a 
position which he took in 1844, and continued to hold for 
twelve years. Dr. Stebbins was a born teacher, and at 
Meadville the best work of his life was done. Having a 
warm sympathy with young men, an earnest desire to lead 
them in the paths of knowledge and of usefulness, positive 
views of Christian truth, tireless industry in preparing him- 
self to meet his classes, and great fertility of illustration 
and force of argument in presenting his ideas, he inspired 
his pupils with something of his own enthusiasm in devotion 
to their work. He was teacher, friend, and father to all 
under his charge. During the twelve years that he spent in 
the school, a large number of young men were trained under 
his instruction and influence for the ministry, many of whom 
have filled their places worthily, and acquitted themselves 
as faithful ministers of the gospel. He never lost his inter- 
est in them ; and they have never been unmindful of their 
indebtedness to his wise, patient, and loving care. 

After leaving Meadville, Dr. Stebbins was settled at 
Woburn, where several years were passed in the service of 
the Unitarian church there, and of the Unitarian denomina- 
tion as one of the Directors of the Association. He was 
subsequently chosen President of the Association, and was 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. IX 

continued in that office for three years. While he occupied 
this position, just before the close of the war, a great awak- 
ening of interest in the missionary work of the denomination 
took place. From that movement, carried through largely 
by his wise planning and his earnest toil, the Unitarian 
body has gone on enlarging its activities and extending its 
influence. 

The next work undertaken by Dr. Stebbins was at Ithaca, 
N. Y., where he placed the Unitarian church, just organized 
there, upon a permanent basis, and brought it up to a fair 
degree of prosperity. During the four years of his ministry 
there he attained no little influence with a limited number of 
the students of Cornell University through his Bible class 
and his lectures upon theological and Biblical subjects. By 
his persistent efforts he secured the erection of a house of 
worship for the new church, which was completed and dedi- 
cated free of debt. 

In the year 1877 he took charge of another new movement 
at Newton Centre ; and here the remaining years of his life 
were passed, — bringing together and building up an earnest 
body of Christian believers, securing for them a neat and 
attractive church-home, and inspiring them with something 
of his own fidelity and enthusiasm. 

He had finished reading the proof-sheets of this book, and 
said, " My vacation now begins, — my work is done," when 
he was called to a higher and larger service in the immortal 
world. When told that the end was near, he was not sur- 
prised nor alarmed. 

Forty-eight years of faithful ministerial service, with the 
break of but one Sunday from sickness in all that time, is a 
noble record. A sound mind in a sound body, ever reaching 



X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

• 
out for larger knowledge and pressing on to new usefulness ; 
an indomitable will and tireless energy ; strong positive 
views of truth, which he stoutly maintained and defended ; 
great reluctance to give up the old for the new, in his habit 
of thought ; and, underneath the Puritan sternness, a warm 
sympathy with all classes of men, and the genial, joyful, 
trustful heart of a child, — such were some of the character- 
istics of our friend. 

He died suddenly, at Cambridgeport, August 13, 1885, in 
the seventy-sixth year of his age. 



CONTENTS. 



Part I. 

General Remarks 3-19 

Section I. The Bible — Two Books, 3, 4. Sect. II. The Apocry- 
pha, 4. Sect. III. Other Jewish Books, 5-7. Sect. IV. 
Further Divisions of the Bible, 7. Sect. V. Literary Character 
of the Books, 8 ; language, 8 ; manuscripts, 9 ; chapters, 
punctuation, 9 ; headings of chapters and pages, 10 ; words 
in Italics, 11; transcriptions and interpolations, 12-16; mis- 
translation and obsolete words, 16, 17. Conclusion, 18. 



Part II. 

An Introduction to the Pentateuch 23-44 

Chapter I. Pentateuch — Creation to Abraham (Gen. i.-ix.), 23-33 > 
why called Pentateuch, 23 ; divisions, 24 ; preface to the Law, 
25 ; first portion of it, 25 ; the two documents, 25-28 ; tradition 
among the Etrurians and the legend of Isdubar, 28, 29; origin 
and trustworthiness of traditions and genealogies, 29 ; differ- 
ence between first and second accounts, 31 ; poetry, 32, 33. 

Chapter II. Brief Biographies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 
xii.-l.), 34-44; documents, 34; trustworthiness, 36 ; Abraham, 
38, — his princeliness, 40 ; two marked events respecting Lot 
and Isaac, 41 ; character of Isaac and of Jacob, 42 ; history of 
Joseph, 43. 



Xll CONTENTS. 



$art III. 

An Introduction to the Pentateuch {continued) . . 47-72 

Chapter I. The Israelites in Egypt (Exodus i.-xix.), 47-53; birth 
of Moses, 47 ; author of these chapters, 48 ; contents, 48, 49 ; 
when written, and trustworthiness, 49 ; escape, and pillar of 
fire, 51 ; triumphal song, 52. 

Chapter II. The Law, and its Appendix (Exodus xx.-Deuteron- 
omy), 54-72 ; contents of this division, 54 ; facts to be noticed, 
55—59 ; sacrifices, 56. Sect. I. Author, 59. Sect. II. Age, 60. 
Sect. III. Journal-like Character, 61. Sect. IV. Archaic 
Language, 62. Sect. V. Authenticity, 62. Note A. Recent 
German and Dutch Hypotheses, 64-67. Note B. The Story 
of Balaam, 68-72. 



Part IV. 

The Historical Books 75-125 

Chapter I. The Book of Joshua, 75-82; contents, 75. Sect. I. 
Author, 76. Sect. II. Age, 76-78. Sect. III. Authenticity, 
78-80. Sect. IV. Inspiration, 81. 

Chapter II. The Books of Judges, 82-94 ; chronology, 82. Sect. I. 
Contents, 83 ; office of judges, 84. Sect. II. Age, 86. Sect. 
III. Authorities, 87; Song of Deborah, 88-91. Sect. IV. 
Author, 91. Sect. V. Inspiration, 92. Note. Remarkable 
Facts, 93. 

Chapter III. The Book of Ruth, 94-97. Sect. I. What is it? 94. 
Sect. II. Age, 95. Sect. III. Author, 95. Sect. IV. Author- 
ities, 96. Sect. V. Authenticity and Inspiration, 96. 

Chapter IV. The Books of Samuel, 98-102. General character of 
the books, 98. Sect. I. Contents, 99 ; witch of Endor, 99. 
Sect. II. Object, 100. Sect. III. Authorities. 100. Sect. IV. 
Author and Age, 101. Sect. V. Authenticity and Inspira- 
tion, 102. 



1 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

Chapter V. The Books of the Kings, 103-108 ; divisions, 103- 
105. Sect. I. Object, 105. Sect. II. Authenticity, 106. Sect. 
III. Author and Age, 10S. Sect. IV. Inspiration, 108. 

Chapter VI. The Books of the Chronicles, 109-115. Sect. I. 
Contents, 109-111 ; no partiality to the priesthood, ill. Sect. 

II. Authorities, 112. Sect. III. Authenticity, 114. Sect. IV. 
Age, 1 14. Sect. V. Inspiration, 115. 

Chapter VII. The Book of Ezra, 116-1 18. Sect. I. Contents, 116. 
Sect. II. Author and Language, 117. Sect. III. Authenticity 
and Inspiration, 117. 

Chapter VIII. The Book of Nehemiah, 1 18-120. Sect. I. Con- 
tents, 118. Sect. II. Language, Age, and Author, 119. Sect. 

III. Inspiration, 119. 

Chapter IX. The Book of Esther, 120-123. Sect. I. Contents, 120. 

Sect. II. Object and Author, 121 ; historical romance, 121. 
Chapter X. Conclusion of the Historical Books, 123. 

Part V. 

The Poetical Books 129-205 

Chapter I. General Observations on Hebrew Poetry, 129-166. 
Sect. I. Books, 129; classes of poetry, 129. Sect. II. Early 
Fragments, 130. Sect. III. Form or Structure, 131 ; paral- 
lelism, 132, — synonymous, 133; antithetic, 134; synthetic, 135 ; 
alphabetical, 136. Sect. IV. Subjects, 138; power of God, 
138 ; knowledge of God, 139 ; omnipresence of God, 139 ; eter- 
nity of God, 139 ; goodness, tenderness, mercifulness of God, 
140; trust in God, 140; exultation, aspiration, penitence, 141 ; 
revenge, patriotism, 142. Sect. V. Sources of Imagery, 143 ; 
nature, light, and darkness, 144 ; storms, deluges, rains, and 
dews, 145; mountains, plains, 147; forests, 148; animal king- 
dom, 149; occupations, 151 ; harvest, threshing-floor, 151; 
vineyard, wine-press, 153 ; shepherd, family, 156 ; burial-places, 
157; vices, 158; sacred places, seasons, offices, services, 158; 
dress, 160; remarkable events, primitive earth, 160; exodus 
from Egypt, 161 ; phenomena at Sinai, 163 ; fabulous creatures, 
163. Conclusion, 165. 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Chapter II. The Book of Job, 167-178. Sect I. Age, 16S. Sect. 
II. Author, 170. Sect. III. Integrity and Style, 170. Sect. IV. 
Subject, 172. Sect. V. Structure, 172 ; prologue, 173 ; dialogue, 
174; epilogue, 176. Sect. VI. Immortality, 177. Sect. VII. 
Theology and Inspiration, 178. 

Chapter III. The Book of Psalms, 179-192. Sect. I. Compila- 
tions, 179. Sect. II. Notes and Tunes, 183; imprecatory 
psalms, 184. Sect. III. Messianic Psalms, 185. Sect. IV. In- 
spiration, 189. Conclusion, 191. 

Chapter IV. The Book of Proverbs, 192-196. Sect. I. Divisions, 
193. Sect. II. Morality and Inspiration, 195. 

Chapter V. Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, 197-200 ; subject, 197. 
Sect. I. Style, 197. Sect. II. Divisions, 198. Sect. III. Age 
and Authorship, 199. Sect. IV. Motives and Inspiration, 199. 

Chapter VI. The Song of Solomon, 200-205 ; an amatory poem, 
200. Sect. I Arrangement, Subject, and Plot, 201. Sect. II. 
Age and Author, 203 ; object, 204. 



Part VI. 

The Prophetical Books 209-328 

Chapter I. General Introduction to the Prophetical Books, 209. 
Sect. I. The Prophetic Office, 209 ; the prophets as reformers, 
209, — courageousness of, 211 ; number of, 212 ; Mill and Bun- 
sen on, 214. Sect. II. Qualifications for the Prophetic Work, 
215 ; public speaking, 215 ; meaning of Nabi, 215. Sect. III. 
Schools of the Prophets, 216, — by whom established, and 
where, 216 ; life in, 217; uneducated prophets, 218. Sect. IV. 
Style of the Prophets, etc., 218, — not predictors of future 
events, 219 ; meaning of "sent of God," 220. Sect. V. Method 
and Style of Prophetic Teaching, 221 ; dreams, visions, 224; 
symbols, 225. Sect. VI. Fundamental Principles, etc., 228 ; 
righteousness, 228 ; the law of God supreme, 230 ; moral law 
superior to ceremonial, 230 ; final prevalence of righteousness, 
232 ; immortality, 233. Sect. VII. Rules of Interpretation, 234 ; 
predictions conditioned, 235 ; Oriental poetry, 235, — use made 



CONTENTS. XV 

of, by later writers, 238 ; previous prophecies, 238 ; marginal 
notes, 240. Sect. VIII. Origin of Authority, 240 ; early tra- 
ditions of the nation, 241 ; fundamental law of the State, 242 ; 
results of obedience and disobedience, 243. Conclusion, 246. 
Chapter II. Introduction to the Separate Books of the Prophets, 
248-328. Sect. I. Joel, 248 ; style of the book, 249 ; kingdoms 
of Israel and Judah idolatrous, 250 ; fast-day sermon of Joel, 
251 ; prophecy of the return of captives, 252; no prediction 
of the day of Pentecost in the Book of Joel, 253. Sect. II. 
Amos, 253 ; the prophet to be regarded as a lay preacher, 254 ; 
his authority the law of Moses and the law of right, 255 ; 
prophecy divided into two parts, 257. Sect. III. Hosea, 259; 
wickedness of the people to whom the prophet spoke, 262 ; 
two divisions of the book, 263 ; promises of blessings to fol- 
low repentance, 264. Sect. IV. Isaiah, 264 ; title to the book 
of his prophecies, 265 ; courage and wisdom of the prophet, 
267 ; corruption of the people, 268 ; hope for them in the dis- 
tant future, 270; two parts of the book, 271 ; no supernatural 
revelation made to Isaiah, 272 ; style of the prophet, 279 ; ex- 
planation of Isaiah ix. 1-7, 280. Sect. V. Micah, 286; themes 
of Micah's discourses, 287 ; God's law his authority, 290. 
Sect. VI. Nahum, 291 ; no evidence of inspiration, 292. 
Sect. VII. Zephaniah, 293. Sect. VIII. Habakkuk, 294; 
no evidence in the prophecy of divine aid, 295. Sect. IX. 
Obadiah, 295. Sect. X. Jeremiah, 296; announcement of 
his call to the prophetic office, 297 ; prophecies of the restora- 
tion of the Jewish State, 301; prophecies against foreign 
nations, 302; style of the book, 303 ; Lamentations, 304. 
Sect. XI. Ezekiel, 304; prophecy divided into three parts, 
305 ; translation from Rosenmuller, 306-308 ; Ezekiel inferior 
to Jeremiah, 309 Sect. XII. Daniel, 310 ; two divisions of 
the book, 311 ; written in two languages, 312 ; explanation cf 
the prophetical part, 313 ; age, 316. Sect. XIII. Jonah, 317. 
Sect. XIV. Haggai, 320. Sect. XV. Zechariah, 322; two 
divisions of the book, 322. Sect. XVI. Malachi, 326; 
annunciations based upon the law of Moses, 328. 



PART I. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 



COMMON-SENSE VIEW 



BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



PART I. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 

Section I. — The Bible. 

When we open the Bible, we find that the sacred 
books of two religions are contained in it, — the sacred 
book of the Jews, called the Old Testament, and the 
sacred book of Christians, called the New Testament. 
It would have been well for the world if the books of 
these two religions had never been bound up together, 
as there is a tendency to believe that they include only 
one religion, and that both are of equal authority to the 
Christian. This is a most pernicious error, and has led 
to the saddest results. The Old Testament is the author- 
ity of the Jew's religion ; the New Testament is that of 
the Christian's religion. The commands given in the 
Old Testament are not binding upon the Christian, unless 
they are repeated in the New Testament. Whatever Old 



4 GENERAL REMARKS. 

Testament laws are repeated in the New Testament are 
obligatory upon Christians ; no others are. It is vain to 
quote the Old Testament as proving either Christian 
doctrine or duty. To find these we must confine our- 
selves to the New Testament. We are not under obliga- 
tion to keep the seventh day simply because the Jews 
were commanded to keep it, nor to offer sacrifices, nor to 
pay tithes, — the Law was for the Jews, — just as we are 
not obliged to obey the old articles of the Confederation, 
which were in full force before the formation of the Con- 
stitution of the United States. Whatever articles of the 
old Confederation were embodied in the new Constitution 
we are bound to obey, not because they were in that, but 
because they are in the new Constitution. 

It is of no avail, therefore, in proving a doctrine or duty 
of a Christian, to quote passages from the Old Testament 
which teach it and command it. Let this fact be settled 
immovably in the mind of every person who would intel- 
ligently read the Bible. It contains the sacred books of 
two religions, the Jewish and the Christian. If you are 
a Jew, study and obey the Old Testament. If you are a 
Christian, you can read and study for instruction the Old 
Testament ; but you must study and read the New Testa- 
ment for a knowledge of your own religion. 

Section II. — The Apocrypha. 

Nor is this all. In many Bibles there are bound up 
between the Old and New Testaments several writings, 



OTHER JEWISH BOOKS. 5 

called "The Apocrypha." These are books which the 
Jews supposed not to be of equal value with the others, 
and hence they were not joined with them. They are 
received by the Roman Catholics as partly inspired, but 
not of equal authority with the other Old Testament books. 
As these books are not generally, probably very seldom, 
read by Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, I shall 
pass them by with the remark that the Wisdom of Solomon 
and Ecclesiasticus are rich in instruction, and as worthy 
a place in the Old Testament as Solomon's Song and 
Ecclesiastes. The stories of Bel and the Dragon, and 
Susannah and Tobit and Judith, are as instructive as 
Daniel and Jonah; and the Books of the Maccabees 
thrill us as deeply with their accounts of the exploits of the 
heroes of the people as do those contained in Judges. 
These neglected books are worthy of being read. 

Section III. — Other Jewish Books. 

The literature of the Jews before the time of the Baby- 
lonian Captivity is all lost save the fragments of it contained 
in our Bible. That they had a literature which was quite 
extensive and comprehensive, is evident from books or 
works which are referred to in the Old Testament. It 
may interest the reader to see a list of them ; and for this 
reason, as well as for other reasons which will appear 
further on, I will name them : — 

i. " The Book of Jasher," referred to in Joshua x. 13, 
and 2 Samuel i. 18. This was probably a book of paeans 



6 GENERAL REMARKS. 

on great victories, and poetic eulogies on great warriors 
and chiefs, statesmen and others. 

2. "The Book of the Wars of the Lord," Numbers 
xxi. 14. This was apparently much like the Book of 
Jasher, but may have been more historical. 

3. " The Visions of Iddo the Seer," 2 Chronicles ix. 29, 
and elsewhere. This was probably a book of instruction 
founded on dreams and visions, like Daniel and Ezekiel. 

4. "The Book of Gad the Seer," 1 Chronicles xxix. 29. 
This was probably chiefly historical or biographical, since 
the author of Chronicles refers to it as authority for his 
account of David. 

5. "The Book of Nathan the Prophet," 1 Chronicles, 
xxix. 29. This also was apparently a history of his times. 

6. "The Book of Samuel the Seer," 1 Chronicles 
xxix. 29. This book, also, appears to have been to a 
large extent historical. 

7. "The Book of Shemaiah the Prophet," 2 Chroni- 
cles, xii. 15. This author is said to have written the acts 
of Rehoboam, and he was probably a historian as well as 
a biographer. 

8. " The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel," 
1 Kings, xvi. 5. It appears that the kings of Israel, like 
other Oriental kings, employed scribes who wrote down, 
perhaps daily, the doings of the government; and this 
book is one of the books of records. 

9. "The Book of Jehu, son of Hanani," 2 Chroni- 
cles, xx. 34. This author was also a chronicle --writer and 
biographer. 



FURTHER DIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE. 7 

Solomon was a voluminous writer, though it may be 
that the number of proverbs which he spake, " three 
thousand," and the number of songs which he wrote, "a 
thousand and five," are exaggerated. He was also a 
botanist, and " spake of trees, from the cedar that is in 
Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 
wall." He pushed his studies in other directions also; 
" he spake of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, 
and of fishes." It is not probable that Solomon was the 
only student of Nature, though no others are named. 

Section IV. — Further Divisions of the Bible. 

I have said that our Bible contains two books, the Old 
Testament, in which is the Jewish religion, and the New 
Testament, in which is the Christian religion, and between 
the two there is sometimes placed the Apocrypha. I now 
say that both the Old Testament and the New are made 
up of many separate books or works, written by many 
different authors, and during many centuries. 

The Old Testament may be divided into three parts : — 

I. The Law : Genesis to Deuteronomy. II. History : 
Joshua to Esther. III. Literature, mostly poetry : Job 
to Malachi. 

But there is another division, which indicates to us the 
different authors whose works are contained in the Bible, 
and shows us that one author is not responsible for the 
writings of another, any more than Paul is responsible for 
the writings of Peter. 



8 GENERAL REMARKS. 

If we open the Old Testament, we shall find that it is 
made up, as now divided in our Bibles, of no less than 
thirty-nine different books, — the longest, the Psalms, con- 
taining one hundred and fifty-nine chapters or psalms, and 
the shortest, the prophecy of Obadiah, containing one 
chapter. How many different writers were engaged in 
composing these thirty-nine books it is impossible to tell, 
but probably as many as thirty-five. Seventeen books of 
prophecies are named, then Moses, then a writer of Joshua, 
another of Judges, another of Ruth, another of the Samuels, 
another of the Kings, another of perhaps the Chronicles, 
Ezra, and Nehemiah, another of Esther, another of Job, 
half a dozen of the Psalms, and of Proverbs three cer- 
tainly and no one knows how many more, and of Eccle- 
siastes and Solomon's Song one or two. This is only an 
approximation to the truth. 

Section V. — Literary Character of the Books. 

If we examine the literary character of these books, we 
shall find very different styles of composition, and very 
different subjects treated. All readers know that our 
English Bible is a translation of the book from the lan- 
guage in which it was first written. The Old Testament 
was written in Hebrew, with the exception of Ezra iv. 8 to 
vi. 1 8, Daniel ii. 4 to vii. 28, Ezra vii. 12-16, and Jere- 
miah x. 11. Before the invention of printing, the Bible 
was copied by persons who made it a business to copy 
books. In writing them, some employed capital letters 



LITERARY CHARACTER OF THE BOOKS. 9 

only, others wrote in small letters. No spaces were left 
between the words, nor was there any punctuation. The 
page was not broken into paragraphs, but written con- 
tinuously j and abbreviations were often used for words, as 
if in English I should write " Gd " for God, and " sn " for 
son, and " tt " for that. Hence, when the letters began 
to be separated into words, it was often a question what 
division to make ; for sometimes the change of a letter 
from the end of one word to the beginning of another 
would change very materially the sense, and very serious 
errors might be made unintentionally by those who en- 
gaged in this separation of the continuous letters into 
proper words. Often, also, bad work was made in dividing 
the page into verses, by letting a verse end with a comma 
before any full sense was expressed. Sometimes, even, a 
chapter ends with a comma instead of continuing until 
a full stop would give the reader the meaning of the 
passage. This whole work of dividing the Bible into 
chapters and verses was very carelessly done, and is of 
no value in determining the meaning of the writer. 

The punctuation of the Bible is not the work of the 
authors of the books, but was made by the translators 
or previous critics, and very often changes entirely the 
meaning of the writer. A doctrine receives its support 
sometimes from a comma or period which was inserted 
by the translator of our Bible into English. Romans ix. 5 
is a notable instance of such improper punctuation (see 
Revised Version). This example must suffice to illus- 
trate what effect punctuation has upon the sense of a 



IO GENERAL REMARKS. 

passage while the author has no direction of the matter. 
All these things — the division of his work into chapters 
and verses and its punctuation — the author had nothing 
to do with ; and however infallibly inspired he may have 
been, his translators and punctuators and chapter-and- 
verse makers did not share it in any degree. 

Nor is this all which is the work of the translators of the 
Bible with which the original authors had nothing to do. 
If you will open your Bible in the Book of Psalms, at 
Psalm li. you will find the heading, " To the chief musi- 
cian : A Psalm of David, when Nathan came unto him," 
etc., and similar headings to the Psalms which immediately 
follow. All these headings are the work of unknown per- 
sons, who wrote them to give information respecting the 
author of the Psalm. They are no part of the original work, 
and cannot be relied upon as correct. The word " Selah," 
found in Psalm lii. and in several others, makes no part 
of the original composition, but was inserted to direct the 
musicians, when the psalm was sung, where to pause. 

Once more : all the headings of the chapters, and all the 
running summary of the contents of a page at the top of 
the page, are the work of our translators. What is said in 
these headings is not to be relied on, and is often false. 
They are nothing but a commentary on the chapter by the 
translator. Turn to Solomon's Song, and you will read 
in these headings of " the church's love unto Christ," 
of " the mutual love of Christ and his church," " the 
church is sick of love," and much more of the same ama- 
tory character, when there is not a word said in the Song 



LITERARY CHARACTER OF THE BOOKS. II 

about Christ or about his church, or the remotest allu- 
sion to either. Nearly as false headings are found in the 
Prophets and the Psalms, which make no part of the origi- 
nal Bible. And still more : all the words printed in italic 
are the insertion of our translators to express more clearly 
what they thought was the true sense of the original ; 
but being most of them men of strong doctrinal bias, they 
would be liable, even unconsciously, to give a doubtful 
passage a strong doctrinal signification in support of their 
opinions. In Acts vii. 59, where Stephen is represented 
as " calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit," there is no such word as " God " in the original, 
and the passage should be translated, " Calling aloud, or 
out, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." In 2 Sam- 
uel i. 18, is a very striking instance of a failure by the 
translators to apprehend the meaning of the writer, and a 
curious leading astray of the reader by the insertion of 
words in italic. The passage is the introduction of David's 
most beautiful elegy on Saul and Jonathan. "And he 
[David] bade them teach the children of Judah the use of 
the bow, behold it is written in the Book of Jasher." Now, 
to exhort the people of Judah to teach their children to 
shoot arrows, was a thing the farthest possible from David's 
mind. Leave out the italic words, and. you have just 
what David desired to have taught ; namely, " The Bow," 
that is, this most tender eulogy on his friends, which was 
called " The Bow." This was the name of the poem, and 
this poem he would have taught through all generations in 
memory of the fallen heroes. We should be grateful to 



12 GENERAL REMARKS. 

our translators for warning us of the words which they 
have inserted by printing them in italic letters. There is 
no ground for charging the translators of our Bible with 
adding words for the purpose of sustaining their peculiar 
doctrines ; but there can be no question that their doc- 
trinal bias did influence them in the rendering of all 
doubtful words, and in the construction of all equivocal 
sentences. They would probably do it unconsciously 
more frequently than consciously. 

It is necessary to bear in mind, furthermore, and above 
all, that our Bible is a translation of the Hebrew and 
Greek Testaments. We do not read the original writing 
in our common Bibles. The translation which we use, and 
which is printed by the American Bible Society, was made 
two hundred and seventy -four years ago (1611), by a com- 
mission of scholars appointed or approved by James I., a 
great bigot and pedant, who cramped the freedom of these 
scholars so closely by the rules which he gave them for 
their guidance, that their work could hardly be called a 
new translation, but only a revision of the one then in use, 
which was made only forty-three years before, and was 
called the Bishops' Bible. Within less than a century no 
less than seven translations, or revisions of translations, 
had been made ; so that in point of fact King James's 
translators, so called, only revised a revision of a revision, 
instead of translating anew freely, according to their own 
judgment as scholars, the original Hebrew and Greek 
Testaments. No one claims that James and his forty- 
seven translators were all under the infallible guidance of 



LITERARY CHARACTER OF THE BOOKS. 1 3 

the Holy Spirit, and therefore no one can suppose that 
their translation of our Bible is inspired, infallible. 

Another very important fact should be borne in mind 
by all students and readers of the Bible. I have already 
said that the Old Testament was almost wholly written in 
Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek. Down to 
the time of the invention of printing, these books, as well 
as all others, were multiplied by making copies of them 
by writing. Some of these copies were made by profes- 
sional writers, and were for sale ; others of them were 
made by private persons for their own use. And as it 
is certain that the separate books of the Bible were not 
collected into one volume till centuries after they were 
written, different writers would copy different books as 
they chose, one preferring Isaiah, another Proverbs, 
another the Psalms. In this manner, copies of the same 
book would be made by several different persons, and no 
one of these copies would be absolutely accurate in every 
particular. Soon the original writing of the author would 
be lost, and copies could only be made from copies, and 
so the mistakes of the earlier copies would be perpetuated, 
as well as new ones made. Now, when it is remembered 
that this process of copying went on with the New Testa- 
ment for about fourteen hundred years, and with parts 
of the Old Testament for nearly twice as long, we should 
expect to find that the manuscript copies would differ very 
much from each other, and that it would become very im- 
portant to make a wise selection of the manuscripts from 
which the Bible should be printed. But when our Bible 



14 GENERAL REMARKS. 

was printed, no comparison of manuscripts had been care- 
fully made, and therefore the manuscript used was not a 
choice from many, made by competent scholars, but such 
an one as the printer happened to have. Our Bible, 
therefore, which we read to-day is a translation of one of 
the many manuscripts in existence, without reference to 
its superior accuracy to the others. 

Any one who has attempted to copy even a page of 
writing knows how difficult it is not to make a mistake ; 
and when a mistake is discovered, there is no way of cor- 
recting it but by interlining or writing the omitted words 
on the margin. Now, as these manuscripts were private 
property, the owner would have no hesitation in writing 
between the lines or in the margin an explanatory word, 
which was not in his copy ; and if his friend borrowed his 
manuscript to make a copy for his own use, he might well 
make the mistake of putting into the body or text of his 
copy the explanatory word or words in his borrowed copy, 
thinking that they had been accidentally omitted by the 
former copyist, and by him placed between the lines or 
in the margin. No one intends to corrupt the original, 
but it is done. All such additions to the text, whether 
accidental or intentional, are called " interpolations." 

Men of great learning and of great patience have visited 
libraries in universities and monasteries in both the West 
and the East, and a great many manuscripts have been 
compared, and the most accurate readings have been 
chosen, and new editions of the Old Testament and the 
New have been printed, which are used by scholars, and 



LITERARY CHARACTER OF THE BOOKS. 1 5 

which will be given to us in the Revised Version of the 
sacred Scriptures which some of the most eminent scholars 
in England and America, of different religious denomina- 
tions, are now making. 

It will be seen, therefore, from these considerations, that 
there is no Greek or Hebrew manuscript that is absolutely 
correct, and that to speak of the infallible inspiration of 
all these copyists, and of the copies which they made from 
each other, is simple foolishness. Whether the writers of 
the original manuscript, all whose autograph writings are 
lost, were infallibly inspired or not, is quite another ques- 
tion, and to be decided in a very different way, — which will 
be shown when we come to examine the separate books 
and the claims to inspiration made by their authors, and 
the validity of those claims. We have at best, therefore, 
only an imperfect copy of the autographs of the authors 
of the books contained in the Bible. It is very painful to 
hear scholars who should know better, affirming the abso- 
lute perfection, the infallible accuracy, of our Bible. 

Having explained the origin of these errors of copyists, 
it is important that some of them should be pointed out, 
that the reader may know exactly their importance, and 
understand with what wonderful accuracy the integrity of 
the original text has been preserved, in spite of all its 
exposure to the infirmities of copyists, and careless or 
conscientious correctors of supposed errors found in their 
manuscripts. 

A very large portion of these mistakes arise from sub- 
stituting one synonymous word for another; as if in 



1 6 GENERAL REMARKS. 

English " said " should be used for " spake," " hear " 
for "hearken," "on" for "upon," "beside" for "by." 
Probably not one in twenty of these errors affects the gen- 
eral meaning of the sentence. Some of them, however, 
are important, and a very few have a doctrinal value. 

I shall not here take room to illustrate the interpola- 
tions in the Old Testament. They will appear in their 
proper place. That they are so few, rather than that they 
are so many, is the ground of wonder. No other work of 
that age has come down to us so perfect. 

MISTRANSLATIONS. 

There are very many mistranslations which lead the 
reader astray, and many words well understood two cen- 
turies and a half ago have become obsolete, and convey 
no meaning to the reader, or, what is worse, a false mean- 
ing. I will not occupy room with referring to many of 
them, as the Revised Version, which we are impatiently 
waiting for, will correct them all. 

In i Samuel xx. 40, we read of " artillery," which 
means " baggage ; " "tell" means "to count ; " " to ear " 
means "to plough;" "wist" means "to know." "A 
brazen mirror " is translated " looking-glass " in Exodus 
xxxviii. 8; and "to engrave or write," in Job xix. 23, is 
translated "to print." 

I will give only two more illustrations of the imperfec- 
tion of our translation. In Isaiah vi. 13, the prophet is 
speaking of the captivity of the people and the return of 
some of them to their native land to perpetuate the race. 



MISTRANSLATIONS. 



17 



Our translation is placed at the left hand, and a correct 

one, Dr. Noyes's, at the right. 

"Until Jehovah have removed 
the men far away, and there be 
great desolation in the land. 
And though there be a tenth 
part remaining in it, even this 



" And the Lord have removed 
men far away, and there be a 
great forsaking in the midst of 
the land. But yet in it shall be 
a tenth, and it shall return, and 
shall be eaten : as a teil tree, 
and as an oak whose substance 
is in them, when they cast their 
leaves, so the holy seed shall be 
the substance thereof," — which 
means nothing. 

The second illustration is found in Ezekiel xxi. 14-17, 
where the prophet is predicting a great slaughter by the 
sword. 



again shall be destroyed ; yet as 
when the terebinth and the oak 
are cut down the stem remaineth 
alive, so shall a holy race be the 
stem of the nation." 



" Thou, therefore, son of man, 
prophesy, and smite thine hands 
together, and let the sword be 
doubled the third time,the sword 
of the slain : it is the sword of 
the great men that are slain, 
which entereth into their privy 
chambers. I have set the point 
of the sword against all their 
gates, that their heart may faint 
and their ruins be multiplied : 
ah ! it is made bright, it is 
wrapped up for the slaughter. 
Go thee one way or other, either 
on the right hand or on the left, 
whithersoever thy face is set. 
I also will smite my hands to- 
gether, and I will cause my fury 
to rest." 



" Thou, therefore, son of man, 
prophesy and smite thine hands 
together ! for twice, yea thrice, 
cometh the sword, a sword of 
slaughter, a sword of great 
slaughter, that besetteth them 
on every side, that their 
hearts may faint, and their 
overthrown may be multiplied. 
I have set the terror of the 
sword against all their gates. 
Ah ! how it is made to glitter, 
polished for slaughter ! Unite 
thyself, smite to the right, pre- 
pare thyself, smite to the left, 
whithersoever thine edge is 
turned ! I also will smite my 
hands together, and cause mine 
anger to cease." 



1 8 GENERAL REMARKS. 

These specimens are sufficient to show the imperfection 
of our present translation, and the necessity of a thorough 
revision of it ; and also to show that the prevalent opinion 
that the Bible is absolutely correct in every particular, 
plenarily inspired, and perfect as the original writing of the 
authors, is utterly mistaken and groundless. What re- 
liance can be placed upon the historical and biographical 
portions of these books must be learned from the books 
themselves when their age and authorship and contents 
pass under our notice. As far as words and sentences 
are concerned, they come down to us in the same im- 
perfect condition as other ancient writings, and, as they 
are in our hands and in our translation, are most certainly 
not infallibly inspired. 

CONCLUSION. 

I have now shown the general construction of the book 
which we call the Bible, and find that it is made up of 
many smaller books composed by many different writers 
during a long series of years ; that it is not one book, but 
several smaller books bound in one ; and that no one of 
these smaller books guarantees the accuracy or authority of 
any other one. The historical or biographical or doctrinal 
value of each book must be determined by the contents 
and author of the book itself. The Books of Samuel may 
be authentic history, and the Book of Judges not. Hosea 
may be the writing of a divinely inspired prophet, and the 
Book of Joel not such a writing. There has been no word 
spoken from heaven or among men which authorizes us to 



CONCLUSION. 19 

believe the Bible, all these books, are the "Word of God," 
written under His special guidance, and free from all error 
of fact and doctrine. This being the case, each book 
must be examined separately, that its origin and author- 
ship and accuracy and inspiration may be learned and 
clearly established, if possible. To this examination I 
now call the reader's attention. 



PART II. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. 



PART II. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 
Genesis i.-xi. 

The first five books of the Old Testament are called 
by scholars the " Pentateuch," from a Greek word mean- 
ing five books ; and I shall generally speak of them under 
that name. As these books are commonly supposed to 
have been compiled or written by Moses, I shall some- 
times probably call them the Books of Moses. The names 
of these books are Genesis, as it contains an account of 
the creation of things ; Exodus, as it gives an account 
of the departure from Egypt; Leviticus, as it gives an 
account of the duties of the Levites ; Numbers, as it gives 
an account of the numbering of the people ; and the fifth 
book, as it repeats many parts of the Law, and makes 
amendments to it, is well called Deuteronomy, or Second 
Law. 

If we divide the Pentateuch into sections, we shall 
find that (i) it contains the transactions at Sinai, and 



24 THE PENTATEUCH. 

the laws there given; Exodus xx.-Numbers x. 10. 
(2) This body of the laws is preceded by an account of 
the servitude in Egypt and the escape of the people to 
the wilderness of Sinai; Exodus i.-xix. (3) And this 
is preceded by biographical sketches of the three great 
patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Genesis xii.-l. 
(4) These biographical sketches are preceded by an 
account of the creation, of Eden, of the flood, and cf 
Babel, and sundry genealogies ; Genesis i.-ix. (5) Then, 
succeeding the record of the giving of the Law, there is 
an account of the journeyings of the people till they 
arrived at the eastern bank of the Jordan, Numbers xii.- 
xxxvi. ; (6) and of the transactions there till the death 
and burial of Moses, Deuteronomy i.-xxxi. In other 
words, there is the book of the Law, Exodus xx.-Num- 
bers x. 10, and its preface or introduction, Genesis i.- 
Exodus xix., and its appendix, Numbers x. 10-Deuter- 
onomy xxxiv. The division of the work into five books, 
as now arranged, seems fanciful or accidental. Whoever 
made it perhaps thought it would be a good place to 
make a break when the history was brought down to the 
arrival in Egypt of Jacob and his household ; or Genesis 
may have been compiled after the incidents in and de- 
parture from Egypt, and prefixed to it. So Exodus may 
have closed where it does because the mechanical work 
of the tabernacle and its furniture, and the sacred gar- 
ments, were finished, and the new subject of sacrifices was 
entered upon. And Leviticus may have ended where it 
does because arrangements are now made for the num- 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 25 

bering of the people. Numbers ends naturally with the 
end of the people's journeyings ; and Deuteronomy is a 
clearly denned appendix containing the last addresses of 
Moses and his amendments of the previous laws. 

Such being the general structure of the Pentateuch, 
I proceed to consider its contents more particularly. The 
preface or introduction to the Law, Genesis i.-Exodus 
xix., may be divided into three parts : 1. The traditions 
antecedent to the time of Abraham, Genesis i.-xi. ; 

2. The biographical sketches of the lives of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, interspersed with a few historical events, 
and anecdotes of some other persons, Genesis xii.-l. ; 

3. The abode in Egypt, and the rescue from servitude 
under the lead of Moses to the wilderness of Sinai, Exo- 
dus i.-xix. 

The first part of this preface, Genesis i.-xi., is a com- 
pilation of two, or at most three, ancient documents, 
which the compiler used as they came into his hands, 
without materially changing them, as may be readily seen 
by any reader of the Bible in the English language, 
though not as clearly as by one who can read the original 
Hebrew. In one of the documents used by the compiler 
of these eleven chapters the Supreme Being is called God 
(in Hebrew, Elohim). In the other document he is 
called Lord (in Hebrew, Jehovah or JahveJi). If a third 
document was used, in that he is called Lord God, and it 
extends from chapter ii. 4 to chapter iii. 24. The reader, 
therefore, if he wishes, can very readily make this division 
for himself, regarding only the name by which the Supreme 



26 THE PENTATEUCH. 

Being is called. But as it may be helpful, and will take 
little space, it may be well to give a brief outline of these 
documents, which critics call Elohistic and Jehovistic, 
from the Hebrew names of God used in them. 

The Elohistic document, or that in which the Hebrew 
name (Elohim) of the Supreme Being is translated "God," 
extends from chapter i. i to chapter ii. 4, containing an 
account of the creation. 

The other account of the creation, called the Jehovistic 
account, because in this document the Hebrew name of 
the Supreme Being is Jehovah, translated Lord, follows 
the former, instead of being placed in a parallel column 
so that the reader could easily compare them. God is 
added to Lord in chapters ii. 4-iii. 24, making these two 
chapters, in the opinion of some critics, a third document 
in this compilation. 

The reader sees that this new account of the creation 
begins chapter ii. 4, as if with the title of a separate work : 
" These are the generations [creations] of the heavens 
and of the earth when they were created, in the day that 
the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." The 
writer now goes on to give an account of the creation in 
many respects different from that of the writer of the first 
document, and tells of the Garden of Eden, the sin of the 
first pair, the expulsion from Eden, the murder of Abel, 
the banishment of Cain, and what he and his posterity 
did, to the 5 th chapter. In a few instances the Supreme 
Being is called God ; but the general rule is not affected 
by these exceptions. 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 27 

The first document now begins again in chapter v. 1, 
with this title : " This is the book of the generations of 
Adam; " and, giving a genealogy of the descendants of 
Adam till the time of Noah, ends with chapter vi. 2. It 
begins again (I omit the other Lord, Jehovistic docu- 
ment), chapter vi. 9, with these words as its title : " These 
are the generations of Noah," and goes through the chap- 
ter. It begins again at vii. 6, and continues, with very 
slight exceptions, if any, to viii. 20. It begins again at 
ix. 1, and continues to ix. 20 ; and commencing again, 
it includes the 28th and 29th verses, closing with the 
words, " and he died." It begins again with chapter 
xi. 10, — "These are the generations of Shem," is the 
title, — and continues to verse 2 7, when a new title is 
introduced, " Now these are the generations of Terah," 
and continues to the 3 2d verse inclusive. All the rest of 
these chapters not enumerated as belonging to the first 
document, belong to the second ; and the reader, by omit- 
ting what is contained in the first document, will be able 
to read continuously what is contained in the second. 

The account of the creation given in the first document 
agrees so marvellously with the revelations of modern 
science, that the reader is almost compelled by that fact 
alone to admit that it must have been revealed, substan- 
tially as we have it, to some early inhabitant of the earth. 
The order of creation, as here written, is the order which 
science confirms, — chaos, clouds, seas, dry land, herb, 
sea animals and birds, land animals and man. The sec- 
ond account is very different, and appears to have been 



28 THE PENTATEUCH. 

deeply colored by traditions. The first document con- 
tains very little which appears mythical ; while the second, 
though evidently based upon facts, gives them to us so 
colored by the atmosphere of ages that the fact cannot 
with any certainty be separated from the fiction. That 
these great events — the fall, so called, the flood, the 
building of Babel, and the consequent confusion of 
tongues, as well as the creation — have some basis of 
fact, is evident from their acceptance through the East 
in the earliest time. The tablets exhumed in the valley 
of the Tigris and Euphrates refer to all these events, 
though written a thousand years before the time of Moses. 
In the Oriental legends * translated by the late George 
Smith, there is a fragmentary account of the creation, the 
fall, the expulsion from Eden, the flood, the building of 
the Tower of Babel, and the dispersion. These tablets 
show that all these legends, if one pleases to call them 
such, were familiar in the land of Ur, out of which Abra- 
ham emigrated, and might well have been brought by him 
to the West, and handed down from generation to genera- 
tion, at last in a written form, to the time of Moses, or 
whoever was the compiler of the Book of Genesis. 

It is a curious fact that the tradition of the creation 
most similar to that in Genesis is found among the Etru- 
rians, an ancient people of Italy. But the marvel is 
removed when we find that modern excavations have 
brought to light the equally curious fact that the ancestors 

1 The Chaldasan Account of Genesis, etc. A new edition, corrected by A. H. 
Sayce. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1880. 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 29 

of the Old Etrurians emigrated from the same country 
as Abraham, and would therefore be likely to transmit 
the same traditions. 

The legend of Isdubar, which has recently been dug up 
in the ruins of Nineveh, though the dried clay tablets on 
which it was written were in a very broken state, gives a 
tolerably connected account of the flood, but locates it at 
the mouth of the Euphrates ; and the mountain on which 
the ark rested is part of a range on the east side of the 
river, below Babylon. The tablets giving an account of 
the creation, the fall, and the building of Babel are too 
much mutilated to enable the antiquarian to give any 
very satisfactory information respecting them. For a full 
account of these tablets and their contents, the reader 
is referred to the works of the Rawlinsons and George 
Smith. 

My purpose is not so much to interpret as to describe. 
These eleven chapters, unless we except the tenth, are not 
historical, nor were they intended to be. Whoever com- 
piled the lives of the three great ancestors of the Jewish 
race, prefixed these chapters as giving the genealogy of 
the greatest ancestor from the earliest time, even from 
Adam ; and with this genealogy he has given a few tradi- 
tions, — only four, — covering but a very few years out of 
the two thousand which the genealogies cover. 

In regard to the trustworthiness of these traditions 
and genealogies, it can only be said that we do not 
know who compiled them, nor do we know who first 
committed them to writing. The compiler has given us 



30 THE PENTATEUCH. 

two accounts of the creation and of the flood, as if he 
would not attempt to determine which was the more cor- 
rect ; and it would appear that in his first document (the 
Elohistic) there was no account of the fall, so called, or 
of Cain and his posterity. As this document reads con- 
nectedly when the parts which I have named are put 
together, it is very probable that the compiler has given 
us the whole of this very ancient document. But we 
know not its author. We have no means of judging of 
the authenticity of these eleven chapters, except by their 
contents ; and these contents are sometimes contradictory, 
sometimes apparently extravagantly incredible ; as, for 
example, the age of the antediluvians, reaching in one 
instance to nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and the 
capacity of the ark to hold all the creatures named, and 
the food they required, during the flood. If it should be 
said that these wonderful things are miracles, the reply is : 
Certainly they were miracles if they ever took place ; but 
whether they ever took place or not, in the manner here 
related, is the very question at issue. Who affirms the 
accuracy of these traditions and genealogies? Till a 
responsible indorser is found, they must be accepted or 
rejected as valid or invalid, as their contents demand. 
No claim of inspiration in any sense is made by the 
original author or by the later compiler, nor is there 
evidence of any kind from any quarter that they were 
inspired. Better, far better, admit that we do not under- 
stand them, than to make such unsupported claims of 
their divine origin, and such wretched blunders in their 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 3 1 

interpretation, as have been made by those who claim that 
they are a revelation of infallible truth from God. There 
must be witnesses of unchallenged veracity to convince us 
that the serpent talked with the woman; or that eating 
the fruit of one tree produced death and the eating of 
another restored life ; or that the woman was made of 
the rib or side of the man, which contradicts the account 
in the first chapter ; and so of much more in the second 
document. There is not the slightest evidence that the 
" seed of the woman," chapter iii. 13, is the Messiah, as 
many critics affirm. 

The first account implies that more than a single pair 
were created : " Let us make man [the species, man], and 
let them have dominion. So God created man . . . male and 
female created he them" In the second account we read 
that Cain feared men would kill him ; and being assured of 
his safety, he went into the land of Nod, took a wife, built 
a city, and had children. But only his father and mother 
and himself were on the earth, if only Adam and Eve were 
created, and their children named were the only persons 
besides. I am not an interpreter, however, but a describer. 
At all events, there is nothing in these early documents 
which opposes conclusively the creation of different groups 
of human beings, or the creation of many families in the 
Adamic group. Nor is there anything which conclusively 
shows the specific manner of creation, — whether by grad- 
ual evolution of species from simple forms and continued 
differentiation during vast ages, or instant creation at distant 
intervals by the divine fiat. Nor does the word " day," 



32 THE PENTATEUCH. 

as used in the first document, necessarily mean a period 
of only twenty-four hours ; it may signify ages, as it cer- 
tainly does in the second document, chapter ii. 4 : " These 
are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when 
they were created, in the day that the Lord God made 
the earth and the heaven." Here the whole time of the 
creation is called a " day ; " that is, a period of time in 
which a thing was done. The contradictions which some 
scientists think they find, and affirm with so much bold- 
ness that they do find, between the revelations of science 
and the first account in Genesis, are many of them en- 
tirely destitute of any foundation, as any Biblical scholar 
knows. 

I call the attention of the reader to the first scrap of 
poetry which is found in the Bible, and which may be 
called " The Sword Song ; " Genesis iv. 23, 24. I shall 
translate the passage anew, for in the common version it 
makes no sense. " And Lamech said unto his wives : 

' Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, 
Ye wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech, 
For I slay a man if he woundeth me, 
Even a young man, if he hurteth me. 
Lo ! Cain would be avenged seven-fold, 
But Lamech seventy-and-seven fold.' " 

The reader of even the English translation perceives a 
rhythmic movement which is not found in prose. The 
subject of Hebrew poetry will be fully discussed when we 
take up the Poetical Books. 

The 10th chapter appears to drop all mythical dra- 
pery, and to be founded upon the most reliable tradition. 



CREATION TO ABRAHAM. 33 

Indeed, the "Journal of the Asiatic Society" says of it: 
" A precious document, which well deserves to be called 
the most authentic record that we possess of the affiliation 
of nations ; " and the Journal might have added, of their 
early migrations. It would be very pleasant to follow the 
migrations of these different families, and show how cor- 
rect is this old account which has floated down these four 
thousand years, informing us of the peopling of all western 
Asia, eastern Africa, and all Europe ; but this is the part 
of the commentator. The accuracy of this document 
awakens a confidence in the honest intent of the com- 
piler of the other traditional accounts, and that they are 
based upon supposed real transactions, and not upon ideal 
fancies. 

There is one more passage of poetry which has sur- 
vived the tooth of time, which I cannot refrain from 
quoting. It is usually called the " Curse of Canaan," and 
is put into the mouth of Noah when he recovered from 
his excessive draught of wine, and is found in Genesis 
ix. 25-27: — 

" Cursed be Canaan. 
Let him be a servant of servants unto his brethren. 
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, 
And let Canaan be his servant. 
God shall enlarge Japheth, 
And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, 
And Canaan shall be his servant." 



34 THE PENTATEUCH. 



CHAPTER II. 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 

Genesis xii.-l. 
This sketch of incidents in the life of Abraham, as well 
as that of Isaac and Jacob, is composed apparently of two 
documents which came into the hands of the compiler, 
and from which he selected such accounts as his fancy 
or judgment dictated. They are evidently the same docu- 
ments as were used in compiling the eleven previous 
chapters, and there is no reason to suppose that another 
person compiled these memoirs. The compiler evidently 
added little or nothing from his own pen, only furnishing 
connecting matter when it was needed, or explaining some 
old custom, or adding a modern name to some ancient 
city or place. The same name of the Supreme Being, 
"God" or "Lord," distinguishes these fragments as in 
the first eleven chapters ; and, guided by this rule alone, 
the reader can hardly fail to make the proper divisions. 
It is not of so much importance to make this distinction 
in these biographies as in the previous chapters, because 
they rarely describe the same event, and the incidents 
given are not, therefore, parallel with each other. Abra- 
ham fell into trouble, when he went down into Egypt, by 
the fancy which Pharaoh took to his wife (chapter xii. 
10-20). This is in an extract from the second document 



ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 35 

in which the name of the Supreme Being is "Lord." A 
second adventure like it occurred to him afterwards with 
Abimelech, King of Gerar, which is related in the first 
document (the Elohistic, chapter xx.) ; and some critics 
are disposed to think both accounts are founded upon 
one occurrence. But there is no proof of it. Substan- 
tially the same thing might happen twice to the possessor 
of a fair wife in those days. Hagar might be driven out 
of Abraham's tent by the jealousy of Sarah before Ishmael 
was born, as well as by the mother Sarah's partiality after 
the birth of her son Isaac ; though one of these occurrences 
is contained in one of these documents, chapter xvi., in the 
"Lord" document, and the other, chapter xxi., in the "God" 
document, — harshly so called in English by the critics. 

This documentary character of the Book of Genesis may 
be traced more or less distinctly through the memoirs of 
Isaac and Jacob to the close of the book; and these 
extracts which Genesis preserves were undoubtedly taken 
from two large documents which have perished. That 
they were written documents, is very evident from the 
manner in which they are used by the compiler. He is 
not arranging unwritten traditions. What dependence can 
be placed upon them must be determined by their con- 
tents. Their author, as I have already said, we do not 
know, nor has any person made himself responsible for 
the accuracy of the narration. There is no reason to 
suppose that the writer of the original documents did not 
correctly narrate such traditions as had reached his time 
respecting Israel's great ancestor Abraham, and his son 



36 THE PENTATEUCH. 

Isaac and grandson Jacob ; but how much reliance can be 
placed upon these traditions must be determined by the 
traditions themselves, as we have no contemporaneous 
history which is more reliable than they are by which to 
test them. There is no reason to call in question the 
leading events in the lives of these three men. They are 
so individual in their characters that it is not possible that 
three so different yet so strongly marked persons would 
have been invented as standing in the relation of ancestor 
and posterity, and as the great patriarchs of the Jewish 
nation. Who that created the strong, the vigorous, the 
enterprising, the colonizing Abraham as one of the great 
three who founded the Jewish nation, would have intro- 
duced as his son and coequal head the indolently ef- 
feminate, lackadaisical Isaac, inefficient, doing nothing, 
effecting nothing which enabled his unknown biographer 
to tell posterity anything of him which does not indicate 
his consummate stupidity and inactivity ? And who that 
had created these two characters would have created and 
selected as the third compeer of the grand old immigrant 
from Ur, the cunning, deceiving, cowardly, runaway Jacob, 
whose whole career, as sketched by the unknown biogra- 
pher, was as unworthy of his ancestry as of his manhood, 
— by the side of whom the generous, prodigal, cheated 
Esau stands in comparison a noble, grand, unselfish soul, 
worthy to be a descendant of Abraham and an ancestor of 
the Jewish race ? The pen that sketched these characters 
was a skilful one. The personal traits of these three patri- 
archs are drawn with all the clearness and specialness 



ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 37 

of a great novelist, and the reader will find it impossible 
to transfer to the portrait of the grand old Sheik and 
Patriarch, Abraham, a single lineament of the counte- 
nance of Isaac, or a solitary expression of the face of 
Jacob ; Esau alone reflects back upon the great ancestor 
any of his noble and admirable traits of character : and 
yet he is not one of the immortal three. This is strong 
evidence that the characters are drawn from life • that the 
things here narrated have a foundation in fact ; that the 
men here described are no myths, no creations of the im- 
agination, but human beings like ourselves, trained under 
the influence of Oriental skies and Oriental opinions. 

I do not propose to write even an abstract of the lives 
of these men as recorded in Genesis. I only propose to 
touch upon some of the incidents narrated, and clothe 
them in the language of modern thought, thus relieving 
them of what is to us marvellous or incredible. To this 
end, it is necessary to bear in mind a very few simple rules 
which must always guide us when we read the writings of 
Oriental men ; and especially what a profoundly religious 
man writes on any subject, particularly on religious sub- 
jects. These memoirs are all written from a religious 
point of view, and by an ardent believer in the immanence 
and perpetual agency of God in all things. Everything, 
indeed, is attributed to His agency. He suggests what 
Abraham and the rest are to do, what they are to say, 
where they are to go, and where they are to remain ; and 
the incidents which happen are interpreted as revealing 
His will, which is put into words as if He had spoken. 



38 THE PENTATEUCH. 

"The Oriental mode of narration/' says Setter, in his 
Biblical Hermeneutics, " has this peculiarity, that it some- 
times describes events by representing as spoken, things 
which had only happened, without the express words hav- 
ing been employed ; " and what God is supposed to mean 
is put into words by the pious writer just as if God had 
spoken those words. Immer, in his Hermeneutics, takes 
the same view of many of the theophanies and angel- 
ophanies, or appearances of God and of angels related in 
this book. Indeed, this language of piety is not confined 
to the ancients ; it prevails now in all the East, and even 
among Christians in New England. They speak of God 
as doing this and that, and saying this and that, by certain 
events which take place. With this indisputable fact be- 
fore us, let us read the lives of these great ancestors of 
Israel guided by the rule that acts and words are attributed 
to God which are only the devout expression of the opinions 
and feelings of the writer. 

Abraham dwelt with his father Terah and his two 
brothers Nahor and Haran in Ur of the Chaldees, — a 
region lying mostly south of Babylon, near the mouth of 
the Euphrates, and identified with the ruined city now 
called Mughier. Abraham married his half-sister (chap- 
ter xx. 12), and Haran died early, leaving his son Lot. 
With this family Terah set out on his migration to the 
land of Canaan, to which some of his nation had migrated 
long before him, settling on the eastern shore of the 
Mediterranean Sea, and even west in Italy, where they 
were called Etruscans. Terah, therefore, only followed 



ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 39 



; VY - 



the enterprising company of emigrants. He went, hoA 
ever, no farther than Haran, on the upper waters of the 
Euphrates, at the foot of the mountains of Armenia, where 
sickness, or age, or discouragement detained him, and 
he died there. But the enterprising Abraham went on 
after a short delay, directed, as he believed, by the will 
of God, which will the old biographer has put into words. 
There in Canaan he saw that his family would prosper, 
increasing in wealth and numbers in that rich country till 
it would become a great tribe, race, — hardly "nation" 
in our use of that word, — both blessed and blessing all 
the families (tribes) inhabiting that region, not the whole 
round globe. He was now seventy-five years old. His 
wife and Lot and all his servants and all his other prop- 
erty he took with him. He had left an idolatrous people, 
and seems to have attained some knowledge of one God, 
but with very imperfect views of his character, and his 
relation to the so-called gods of other people. Driven, 
temporarily only, to Egypt by a drought, he grew rich in 
cattle and servants; and his nephew Lot also so greatly 
prospered that strifes took place between their herdsmen, 
and Abraham proposed that they should separate, dividing 
the country between them, and most generously he gave 
his nephew his choice of the hill country or the plain. 
Lot chose the plain, and their pecuniary interests there- 
after were separate. 

Chedorlaomer, with three allies from the region formerly 
inhabited by Abraham, came to the neighborhood to put 
down an insurrection, and was returning home with Lot 



40 THE PENTATEUCH. 

as a captive, when Abraham rallied his forces, pursued, 
overtook, and conquered him, and rescued his nephew. 
Of this Chedorlaomer we read on the tablets recently ex- 
humed by Rawlinson and Smith, and either this Kedar, or 
another, called Keedar Mapula,is called " Conqueror of the 
West." Thus the tablet which had been buried three thou- 
sand years confirms this old scrap of an Eastern invasion 
of the far West. Abraham reveals the princeliness of his 
character by refusing to take of the King of Sodom any- 
thing, " from a thread even to a shoe latchet," as com- 
pensation for the great service rendered the king by 
pursuing and conquering the invaders. Longing for off- 
spring, with Sarah's consent, if not at her suggestion, as 
was the custom in those days, Abraham took Hagar, his 
wife's maid, as a concubine. But before the birth of her 
child, Sarah became so jealous of her that she was obliged 
to leave the tent for a season. Ishmael was born, and 
grew up in peace till, in her old age and against all hope, 
and paralleled by but few instances in the world's history, 
Sarah bore Isaac. The wonderful visitations attending 
this event must be interpreted by the general rule given 
above. Oriental dreams came, in after times, to be un- 
derstood as actual occurrences, and personal convictions 
of duty and cherished hopes were interpreted as revela- 
tions from God. 

The nobleness and stern piety of Abraham are mani- 
fested in two very marked events. When his sense of 
God's hatred of flagrant sin, of the sure destruction which 
it would bring upon evil doers, forced him to believe that 



ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 4 1 

the days of the wicked cities of the plain were numbered, 
he prayed with intensest fervor that they might be spared, 
in the hope that even yet, hopeless as the hope was, they 
would repent, reform, and live righteously. But it could 
not be. With dramatic vigor he is represented as entreat- 
ing the Lord to save the wicked city if fifty, or forty-five, 
or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or even ten righteous persons 
should be found in it. But the ten could not be found in 
it ; and the storm came in all the terror of lightning and 
tempest, and the asphaltum soil was fired by the thunder- 
bolts, and the subterranean waters burst through the burn- 
ing covering, and the cities perished, while Lot, suspecting 
the impending tempest and possible conflagration, escaped 
with his family. 

The other incident illustrative of the profoundness and 
superstitiousness of his piety was his conviction that he 
should make as precious an offering to his God as other 
peoples and persons made to their gods, or his piety would 
be unacceptable. Isaac, his dear and only son, Sarah's 
child, must be offered a sacrifice to his God ! What 
anguish of soul the devout father suffered, God only 
knows. But it seemed to him that God demanded it, 
and he would not refuse. The account of the prepara- 
tion, of the journey, of the revelation of the father's pur- 
pose to the son, and the son's unresisting submission, 
though now twenty-five years old, in the full strength of 
manhood, the building of the altar, the binding of the 
victim, the elevated knife of sacrifice, is most touching 
and pathetic ; and then, as the blow is about to be struck, 



42 THE PENTATEUCH. 

the rustling bushes and the struggling ram arrest the 
father's eye and arm, and the incident is to him the voice 
of God telling him to substitute the ram for his son. 
Mistaken piety ! Most providential rescue ! 

Abraham marries several wives after Sarah's death, and 
finally passes away, leaving his great estate to Isaac, who 
proves to be just what might be expected of a son of old 
age, — indolent, inefficient, unenterprising, as unlike his 
parents as possible. His only ambition seems to have 
been to obtain " venison," to be cooked so as to make 
" savory meat." His wife Rebecca was bright, sharp, 
cunning, and could manage him according to her mind. 
She had twin sons, Jacob and Esau, and she loved the 
former more than the latter, though he was the younger ; 
for Jacob was much more like his mother in disposition 
than Esau, — cunning, deceptive, greedy. When, there- 
fore, Isaac waxed old and was blind, and wanted " savory 
meat," and faithful Esau had gone out to hunt to get 
him some venison, Rebecca instigated Jacob to get a kid 
and she would make " savory meat " of it and deceive his 
father, and he should receive the paternal blessing. It 
was done. Isaac was deceived, and Esau was defrauded. 
But the cowardly Jacob fled for his life to Laban, his 
mother's brother, in Padan Aram, and took a wife. How 
Laban cheated him, and how he cheated Laban in 
turn, and fled away with two wives and their concubines 
and children, and much cattle, and settled in Canaan, I 
need not relate. Famine came. 1 Joseph, who had been 

1 There was a famine of seven years in Egypt (1064-1071, a.d.). 



ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. 43 

sold by his brothers into Egypt, makes himself known to 
them, when they come down to Egypt to buy corn, as first 
officer of the kingdom, and sends for his father and all his 
household and all his possessions to come down and dwell 
in Egypt ; and they do so. This history of Joseph is 
most beautiful and most touching. No one can read it 
without being impressed with its substantial accuracy, and 
filled with admiration of his fortune and character. 

The blessing of Jacob on his sons (Genesis xlix. 1-27) 
is a most wonderful composition, and worthy the pen of 
the most gifted of the poets of Israel ; and the brief ac- 
count of his death is as tender as it is brief, and as simple 
as it is tender. — a production of a much later age than 
that of the patriarchs, yet identified with the period of 
the composition and collection of the Pentateuch in the 
Mosaic age. A new and more correct translation of it 
may undoubtedly be found in the Revised Version. 1 

What can be found in all literature more exquisite in 
expression and touching in its incidents than Judah's 
plea before Joseph for the release of his young brother 

1 Many commentators maintain that the Messiah is referred to in the prophecy 
attributed to Jacob (Genesis xlix. 10), by the name of Shiloh : " The sceptre shall 
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [better " leader's staff "] from between his 
feet, until Shiloh come [better "until he come to Shiloh"!, and unto him [or 
" it," Shiloh) shall the gathering of the people be [or "shall the people gather]." 
Shiloh was a town where the tabernacle rested many years after the people 
entered the promised land, and here also was the ark of the covenant to which 
the tribes went to worship. The rulers did not arise from the tribe of Judah till 
three or four hundred years after they entered Canaan ; nor did the tribe of Judah 
continue to furnish them till the time of Christ ; nor was the Messiah ever called 
Shiloh. Moses, their great leader, was of the tribe of Levi ; Joshua, the conquer- 
ing hero, was of the tribe of Ephraim ; and Saul, the first king, was of the tribe of 
Benjamin. Not till David, did Judah furnish a king. 



44 THE PENTATEUCH. 

Benjamin, — an outgush of fraternal and filial love with- 
out a parallel in all the ages. Read it, — Genesis xliv. 
18-34. 

Who can read without shedding tears the account of 
Joseph's making himself known to his brothers? How 
simply the disclosure is told ! How every syllable throbs 
with emotion ! The great prince of Egypt sobbed aloud. 
In broken syllables he said, " I am Joseph. Doth my 
father yet live?" What filial love! Astounded and 
dumb, the brothers stand immovable. " Come near," 
he says. " I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into 
Egypt. God sent me here to preserve you alive. Be not 
grieved." What tenderness ! 



PART III. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. 

[Continued.) 



PART III. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. 

{Continued.) 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. 

Exodus i.-xix. 

A space of several centuries — some writers say two and 
a half, and others over four — intervenes, in which little 
or nothing is said of the condition of the descendants of 
Jacob in Egypt. The first we learn of them is, that they 
are oppressed; a portion of them at least are reduced 
to servitude, and made to labor on the public works 
and build treasure-cities. Their male children are put to 
death at birth, under the pretence that they are becoming 
so numerous as to peril the safety of the government. 
Moses is born, and found by Pharaoh's daughter in the 
place where he has been hidden by his mother. She adopts 
him as her child, and he is brought up at the court till 
he is forty years of age, when he ventures to interfere in a 
quarrel, which compels him to flee the country for his life. 
He is absent forty years, when, having a dream or vision 
of a burning bush, he returns under a supposed or real 
divine impulse to free his people. After suffering terrible 



48 THE PENTATEUCH. 

plagues, Pharaoh gives his consent to their leaving ; but, 
repenting, he pursues them, and his army is lost in at- 
tempting to follow them through the Red Sea. Moses 
leads the people to Mount Sinai, where he gives them 
their law and their ritual. 

The author of these twenty chapters of the Book of 
Exodus was not probably the author of either of the two 
documents from which the Book of Genesis was compiled, 
nor is it clear that the compiler of the Book of Genesis 
was the author of this account of the servitude and escape 
of the descendants of Jacob. Moses, who by his educa- 
tion was well acquainted with the traditions of his ances- 
tors, may have compiled the Book of Genesis, and some 
other person, even after the settlement of the people in 
the promised land, may have composed this short sketch 
of the servitude and escape from Egypt, from such oral 
accounts as he found among the people three generations 
after most of the events reported occurred. That the 
account of the terrible calamities which visited Egypt at 
this time, and of which Moses is said to have taken ad- 
vantage to seek the release of his people, has foundation 
in truth, is unquestionable. Such plagues were not very 
uncommon, though not so severe. How accurate the 
description is cannot be certainly ascertained. That 
Moses convinced Pharaoh that the God of his people 
was the cause of these terrible calamities, may be relied 
upon. The whole story is told in the language of the 
most devout and credulous piety, and is to be interpreted 
accordingly. That it is not perfectly accurate appears on 



THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. 49 

the face of it. For example, it is said that " all the cattle 
of Egypt died " of the murrain ; chapter ix. 6. Yet we 
read that the next terrific tornado of rain, hail, and fire 
" smote all that was in the field, both man and beast," 
but that some of the servants of Pharaoh drove " his cattle 
into the houses," while others left their " cattle in the 
field;" verses 20, 21, 26. And when all the water in 
Egypt was turned into blood, where did the magicians 
get their water to try their enchantments on (chapter 
vii. 22)? Besides, we do not know how great a portion 
of the Nile valley is here called Egypt. Very probably 
it was only that portion which is on the east side of the 
lower divisions of the river Nile. At all events, the story, 
told through three generations, would be likely to color 
very deeply the original account of the plagues, and give 
as their cause the direct and revealed agency of God, such 
as we find attributed to them. The miraculous part of 
these accounts may, therefore, be only the coloring given 
them by pious minds, exaggerated as it would necessarily 
be by so many successive repetitions. If any one, how- 
ever, chooses to consider all the marvellous acts and 
coloring as literal truth, so be it. That almighty power 
could do these things is very true; but whether these 
old accounts by an unknown writer are sufficient proof 
of their truth, is quite another question. What is pos- 
sible may not be probable, and what is probable may not 
be proved to be real. Persons may choose as they please 
between these interpretations of the wonderful events re- 
corded in these chapters, — of the quails, of the bitter 

4 



50 THE PENTATEUCH. 

waters, of the tempest on Sinai, of the voice of God 
speaking from the Mount. 1 The choice is to be made 
between the substantial accuracy of the record of real 
events and the traditional coloring which new, strange, and 
wonderful phenomena would receive, so surprising to those 
who had dwelt in level and fertile Egypt, and were now 
transferred to deserts and among most awe-inspiring moun- 
tains. Besides, these events were not recorded till after 
a very long period, and by a believer in the special provi- 
dence of God, and who thought that all which befell 
the people or occurred in Nature was his personal act. 
He is no more to be branded as sceptical who believes 
the latter, than he is to be branded as superstitiously 
credulous who believes the former. That to this body 
of escaped slaves the whole rescue and march to Sinai 

1 A terrible storm in these precipitous mountains, which filled the valleys with 
darkness and hid the mountain peaks, the clouds torn with blinding flashes of 
lightning, and the precipices reverberating with the most terrific peals of thunder, 
would fill the minds of these escaping slaves with dumb astonishment. They 
would be pallid with fear of the mightiness of the God who rode upon the tempest 
and spake in the storm. Such a storm at Mount Sinai is described by Dr. Stewart, 
" Tent and Khan," pp. 139, 140: " Every bolt, as it burst with the roar of a cannon, 
seemed to awaken a series of distinct echoes on every side, . . . they swept like a 
whirlwind among the higher mountains, becoming faint as some mighty peak in- 
tervened, and bursting with undiminished volume through some yawning clefts 
till the very ground trembled with the concussion. ... It seemed as if the moun- 
tains of the whole peninsula were answering one another in a chorus of the deepest 
bass. Ever and anon a flash of lightning dispelled the pitchy darkness, and lit up 
the Mount as if it had been day ; then, after the interval of a few seconds, came 
a peal of thunder, bursting like a shell, to scatter its echoes to the four quarters 
of the heavens, and overpowering for a moment the loud howling of the wind." 
During a thunder-storm in that neighborhood Mr. Drew unconsciously exclaimed, 
in the reverberation of the echoes, " How exactly like the sound of a trumpet! " 
How perfectly this corresponds with the description in Exodus: "There were 
thunders and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud from the thick 
cloud." 



THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. 5 1 

was a perpetual wonder, a real presence and guidance of 
God, there can be no question ; and that in the narration 
of the events which transpired, human acts should be 
attributed to God, and wonderful phenomena be changed 
into special interpositions in their behalf, would be equally 
natural and to be expected. 

The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night 
appear at times to be miraculous. God is said to direct 
the people by them as if they were his special creation 
and direction. But there is no conclusive reason to be- 
lieve that they were any different from the fires which 
were carried before Oriental armies as signals by which 
the distant portions of the host would be prevented from 
receding too far from the main line of march or centre of 
the encampments. Indeed, there is positive proof that 
this signal, whatever it was, of moving, and direction 
of march and encamping, was under human guidance. 
" And Moses said unto Hobab . . . come thou with us, 
and we will do thee good. . . . And he said, I will not 
go. . . . And Moses said, Leave us not, I pray thee ; for- 
asmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the 
wilderness, and thou may est be to us instead of eyes; " Num- 
bers x. 29-31. And he went as their guide ; as we learn 
in Judges iv. n, that the children of Hobab were in 
Canaan. While in the language of piety God is said to 
be their guide, in the language of simple narrative Hobab 
is said to be their " eyes," — their guide. 

I must not close my remarks on this section without 
calling special attention to the grand song of victory which 



52 THE PENTATEUCH. 

was sung by the people after they had escaped the pur- 
suing hosts of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. It is a nation's 
anthem of deliverance : — 

" I will sing unto Jehovah, for he has triumphantly exalted himself, 

The horse and the horsemen he has overwhelmed in the sea ! 

My strength and my song is Jah ; 

And he is my salvation. 

He is my God, and I will extol him in song — 

My father's God, and I will magnify him. 

Jehovah is a hero : Jehovah is his name ! 

The chariots of Pharaoh and his host 

He has cast into the sea. 

The chief of warriors are sunk in the grassy deep ; 

The refluent surges cover them. 

Like a stone they sink down into the depths. 

Thy right hand, O Jehovah, dashed down the enemy ! 

And in the greatness of thy majesty 

Thou prostratest all who rise against thee ! 

Thou sendest forth thy wrath, 

It consumes them as stubble. 

At the breath of thy nostril, 

The waters rushed into heaps ; 

The swelling surges stood firm like a mound ; 

The floods congealed in the heart of the sea ! 

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will seize, 

I will divide the booty ; my soul 

Shall wreak its full vengeance on them ; 

I will draw out my sword, 

My hand shall extirpate them. 

Thou breathest upon them with thy breath, 

The waters cover them ! 

They sink like lead in vast waters ! 

Who is like thee : among the heroes like thee, O Jehovah ? 

Who is like thee, exalted in equity, 

To be extolled in songs, doing wonders ? 

Thou stretchedest out thy right hand, 



THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT. 53 

The earth swallowed them ; 

Thou didst lead by thy mercy this people, 

Redeemed by thee. 

Thou wilt guide them by thy might 

Unto the habitation of thy holiness. 

The nations heard; they will tremble. 

Terror seizes the dwellers in Philistia ; 

Now the mighty ones of Edom are amazed ; 

The heroes of Moab — trembling seizes them ; 

All the inhabitants of Canaan melt with fear; 

Dread and horror fall upon them. 

By the might of thy arm they shall be motionless 

As a stone, during the passing over 

Of thy people, O Jehovah ! 

During the passing over of that people 

Thou hast rescued. 

Bring them up. Plant them upon the mount 

Of thy inheritance, the spot of thy residence, 

Which thou didst prepare, O Jehovah, 

The Holy place of the Lord. Thy hand built it — 

Jehovah shall reign forever and ever. 

Forth marched the horse of Pharaoh 
And his chariots, and when he went down 
Into the sea, Jehovah turned upon him the waters 
Of the sea. But the children of Israel walked 
On dry land in the midst of the waters." * 

1 See Note A, at the end of Chapter II., giving some account of recent attempts 
to trace different documents in this and later portions of the Pentateuch. 



54 THE PENTATEUCH. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 

Exodus xx.-Deuteronomy. 

We have now come to that division of the Pentateuch 
which narrates the giving of the Law, Exodus xx.-xxiii. ; 
the manufacture and erection of the tabernacle and its 
furniture, xxiv.-xl. ; the ritual law, describing the sac- 
rifices to be offered, Leviticus i.-vii. ; the dedication 
of the tabernacle and priests, viii.-x. ; the distinction to 
be made between things, beasts, and men, as clean and 
unclean, xi.-xvi. j laws respecting crimes for which there 
was no pardon, xvii.-xx. ; laws respecting festivals, vows, 
and tithes, xxi.-xxvi. Next in order comes the number- 
ing of the people, the order of encampment and order of 
march, with a few new laws, Numbers i.-x. 10 ; then fol- 
lows the account of the journeyings to the east bank 
of the river Jordan, covering about thirty-eight years, 
x. i i-xix ; then the narrative of the occurrences of ten 
months on the east side of Jordan, xx.-xxxvi. 

The reader will find some lines of old poems in Num- 
bers xxi. 17, 18, 27-30; and some scraps attributed to 
Balaam, xxiii. 7-10, 18-24; xxiv. 3-9, 15-19, 20-24. x 

The appendix to the Law proper may begin with 
the 1st chapter of Deuteronomy, or at Numbers xii. 

1 See Note B, at the end of this chapter, on the story of Balaam. 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 55 

Generally, however, the Book of Deuteronomy is looked 
upon as a separate composition, and it will be so treated 
here, and as an appendix to the previous work, or to 
the Law especially. The time occupied by the events 
recorded in the appendix is two months, and its contents 
may be divided into four parts. The first part includes 
the first address of Moses, chapter i.-iv. 40. The second 
part consists ofamendments, offered in an address, of old 
laws and the giving of new ones, iv. 40-xxvi ; the third, 
the ceremonies to be observed at Ebal and Gerizim, 
xxvii.-xxx. ; the fourth, an account of the delivery of the 
Law to the Levites, the blessing of the tribes, and the death 
of Moses on Pisgah, xxxi.-xxxiv. 

I do not propose to give an analysis of either the 
civil or ritual laws. The reader will find them, and when 
they were given, in Exodus and Leviticus. The descrip- 
tion, or the coloring of the description, of some of the in- 
cidents attending the giving of these laws may have been 
added afterwards, even half a century after, when the 
actors had passed away. But there are a few facts to 
which the reader's attention should be especially called. 

I. The record, as a whole, claims to have been made 
upon the spot near Mount Sinai, and there is no conclu- 
sive evidence to the contrary. The construction of the 
Law and the incidents connected with giving it corre- 
spond perfectly with the place and time claimed. 

II. The specifications of the articles to be made for 
the tabernacle and its furniture and the priests' garments, 
and then the entry of each specific article as "it was 



56 THE PENTATEUCH. 

returned by the maker, unmistakably indicate work done 
then and there, and credited to the workman on the spot. 
Let the reader carefully peruse these chapters in Exodus, 
giving an account of these matters, and see if he could 
imagine them any other thing than specifications for work 
to be done, and then credit for that work when done. 
This one fact settles the substantial trustworthiness of 
these accounts respecting the ritual laws, the furniture, 
the tabernacle, and the priests' dresses. 

III. It is to be carefully remarked that the sacrifices, 
which are so minutely described in Leviticus, were not a 
substitute for the penalty threatened in the law, from which 
the transgressor escaped by offering the sacrifice. All 
penalties were inflicted to the very letter before the trans- 
gressor could offer his sacrifice; and this was only the 
public confession of wrong on his part, and public proc- 
lamation of full exculpation on the part of the priest. 
Sacrifices were offered for thi?igs as well as for men, and 
after diseases as well as after transgressions of the law, 
and after accidental ritual uncleanness as well as after 
necessary uncleanness, as in the case of the burial of a 
dead body or the unnoticed touch of one who was un- 
clean. The leper must offer a sacrifice as well as the 
undertaker. The sacrifice was not a substitute for the 
penalty of the law. It was a form of reception of the 
transgressor into citizenship, after the full penalty had 
been paid. 

IV. Again, there was no sacrifice offered by one who 
had committed a capital crime ; nor were any sacrifices 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 57 

offered for sins, strictly so called, — crimes against God. 
These, God punished always, or forgave, according to his 
good pleasure, and no sacrifice was ever demanded for 
them. Sacrifices were a part of the ritual, and were 
offered only as a part of the ritual law ; they had nothing 
to do with the moral character of the offerer. Ritual 
transgressions, and no other, whether known or unknown 
to the transgressor, were to be atoned by sacrifices. The 
passage so often quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
ix. 22, that "without the shedding of blood is no remis- 
sion," is only a universal for a general affirmation, as the 
first half of the verse shows, — " and almost all things are 
by the law purged with blood." " Things" observe, are 
spoken of in previous verses, and are referred to largely, 
if not wholly, in the clause so usually quoted. Besides, 
there is in Leviticus v. 11-13, the statement of a case 
where the "tenth part of an ephah of fine flour " is a sin- 
offering, and makes an atonement for the sin of the offerer, 
if poor ; and most of those liberated slaves were poor. 

V. It is also to be observed that here is a full code of 
civil and ritual law given to a people just escaped from 
slavery, with all the debasement of both a coarse idolatry 
and a cruel servitude clinging to them, and rendering 
them wholly unfit for the instant understanding and re- 
ception of this code. It is ideal; the people were 
realists of the lowest order, but were to be trai?ied by 
this ideal code into a higher life and purer worship. 
Very many parts of both these two codes they could not 
put into practice while they were in the desert, for they 



58 THE PENTATEUCH, 

were adapted to a people in a settled state, which it was 
supposed they would enter upon in a few mo7iths. But 
they did not. For forty years they were a nomadic peo- 
ple in the so-called " desert " or " wilderness." A whole 
generation had passed away since the awful terrors of 
Sinai revealed their God and sanctioned their law. Neg- 
lected undoubtedly in many particulars from necessity as 
well as from indifference, the people were in no condition 
either to appreciate or obey it when they entered the 
promised land ; and we shall see, as we go on with their 
history, that it was almost a dead letter for many years. 
Occasional traces of its observance are found during the 
tumultuous period of the judges and the revolutionary 
period of establishing the monarchy ; but it hardly took 
form and developed its extent and pomp till the erection of 
the Temple. Generations must pass before such a horde 
of escaped slaves could appreciate such a code as Moses 
gave them. But imperfectly as they regarded it at first, 
yet, trained under its partial observance and frequent 
violation, the people at last attained a religious eleva- 
tion and literary taste which has caused not only the 
marvellous survival of their scattered communities as a dis- 
tinct race, but has made the writings of their historians, 
poets, and prophets, household treasures throughout all 
Christendom. 1 

1 Deuteronomy xviii. 15-19, is supposed by many commentators to refer to 
the Messiah, to Christ. But it is obvious that Moses had reference to a prophet, 
or leader, who should immediately succeed him, to whom the people should give 
heed instead of being led astray by "diviners," and "observers of times," and 
" enchanters," and " necromancers," and "wizards," and " charmers," and " con- 






THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 59 

It is the duty of the commentator to explain the various 
laws and rites which are contained in these books, Exo- 
dus-Deuteronomy. It remains for me to inquire only 
respecting their author, age, and authenticity. 

Section I. — Author. 

Beginning with Exodus, chapter xx., and including Le- 
viticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we find that some- 
times directly, and sometimes indirectly, they indicate that 
Moses was their author ; for what one does by the agency 
of another, he may be said to do himself. If, therefore, 
as is very probable and entirely in accordance with the 
custom of the times, Moses employed a scribe or several 
scribes to write for him, and they wrote these books at his 
request or command, then they can be called his work. 
The books also appear to have been written by different 
persons, as the style in different passages has a slight shade 
of difference, as it would have if written by different scribes. 
The "archaic" forms are still found remaining in all parts, 
showing that certainly no section of any length could have 
been written in a much later age. Furthermore, all the 
references to these laws, when their author is named, 

suiters with familiar spirits." He had no reference to so distant a period as the 
Christian era, nor would the passage ever have been referred to Christ had not 
Peter quoted it in Acts iii. 22, and applied it to him. But this method of quota- 
tion, that is, of applying to one person what is said of another, when that saying 
is appropriate, is so common in the New Testament that it needs no illustration 
here, as may be seen by comparing Matthew ii. 15 with Hosea ii. 1. This use of 
the Old Testament Scriptures by the New Testament writers will be fully illus- 
trated in the Introduction to the Prophetical Books. 



60 THE PENTATEUCH. 

attribute them to Moses ; so that the presumption is that 
he wrote them, or caused them to be written, unless the 
contrary can be proved. 



Section II. — Age. 

Were they written, then, in his age? This must be 
determined as we determine the age in which any book 
was written. If we look into the writings of the Jews 
between the time of the prophet Malachi and the time of 
Christ, we shall find the Pentateuch referred to as " the 
Law," as " the book of the Law of the Lord," as " the 
book of the Law by the hand of Moses." And we find 
the same style of reference made to a book of the Law 
back through all the prophets to the time of Joel, 800 B.C., 
indicating that the same book of the Law existed in his 
time as was in use in the time of Malachi. 

Nor is this all. We find that the passages quoted or 
referred to by the prophets are contained in the Pentateuch, 
thus identifying the book still more certainly. 

Then, if we trace back the references to the same work 
in the historical books from the time of Nehemiah to the 
time of David, we shall find the same kind of evidence of 
the existence of the book which we now have. And all 
the references to the book in the Books of Samuel, Judges, . 
and Joshua, still further identify it with the Pentateuch. 
There is no counter historical testimony. The fact that 
the Temple manuscript copy was lost or hidden away, 
for three generations, for security during the idolatrous 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 6 1 

reigns of wicked kings, and was at last found by Hilkiah, 
or produced by him from its hiding-place, is no surprise 
to any one acquainted with the perils of books in any age. 
It is quite absurd to suppose that the book found did not 
exist before, but was a barefaced forgery. Nor is it any 
evidence that the Pentateuch was not in existence, because 
at certain periods its laws were flagrantly and persistently 
disobeyed. The gambling laws of Massachusetts are 
constantly and openly disregarded. Tins objection to the 
early existence of " the book of the Law of Moses " is of 
no force whatever. 

Section III. — Journal-like Character. 

Again, the journal-like character of the work shows 
that it was written when it claims to have been. Laws 
are amended which are found to be unjust or inappropriate. 
New laws are made to meet new emergencies as they 
arise. 

The case of the daughters of Zelophehad is in point. 
The original law did not permit daughters to inherit the 
father's estate. Zelophehad had no sons living at his 
death. Who should have his estate? The daughters 
present their case to Moses, and he amends the original 
law, so that daughters may also inherit, and the estate not 
pass out of the family; Numbers xxvii. i-ii. But it was 
also a part of the law of inheritance that no possession 
should pass out of the tribe. Now, the daughters of 
Zelophehad were about to marry out of their tribe, and 



62 THE PENTATEUCH. 

would carry their estate with them. To prevent this, 
Moses amended his amendment, and enacted that when 
a daughter married out of her tribe, the estate should be 
given to other kinsmen ; Numbers xxxvi. Let this one 
illustration suffice. 



Section IV. — Archaic Language. 

The old form of the language, called "archaic," in 
which the book is written, remits it to an age long pre- 
vious to the writing of any other book in the Bible. 

These four witnesses to the Mosaic age of the book 
might each of them be illustrated at great length; but 
the purpose of this work forbids any such elaborate 
discussion as would swell a small handbook into a large 
volume. These four hints inform the reader of the method 
of proof; the proof itself he will find as he studies the 
different books in the Bible. 



Section V. — Authenticity. 

In regard to the authenticity of the Pentateuch, it may 
be said, if it was written for the most part in the midst of 
the events which it relates, then the author must have 
been a most flagrant falsifier, or his book is substantially 
true. There are some marvellous things narrated here. 
That God could do all that is narrated as his act cannot 
be disputed ; but it is an open question whether he did 
do all that is attributed to him in this book. • When we 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 63 

remember that an act of man is often attributed to God 
when it conforms to his will, we must be very cautious about 
believing that God did directly all that this author attributes 
to him. What portions of these civil and moral laws can 
be referred to direct revelation from God, no careful and 
reverent critic will be in haste to decide. That Moses, 
trained as he was in all the learning of the Egyptians, was 
competent to construct this ritual without any supernat- 
ural aid, is perfectly evident. He has introduced many 
of the symbols and rites of the Egyptians. The ark of 
the covenant and the cherubim over it, and the Urim and 
Thummim, and various parts of the priests' and high- 
priest's dress, are copied from the ritual of Egypt, yet 
with difference enough to render the ritual of Moses in 
great part original. It is not necessary for us to deter- 
mine how many of these laws and rites are the work of 
Moses, and how many, if any, are the direct inspiration of 
God. We are Christians, and the Law is not our law, 
nor is its ritual our form of worship. But as a matter 
of curious scholarship students will still, and always prob- 
ably, attempt the hopeless task of separating the divine 
from the human element, and will often probably in the 
future, as in the past, dogmatize on the subject, to the in- 
jury of the Christian spirit and the dishonor of Christian 
scholarship. 1 

1 For a fuller discussion of the age and authorship of the Pentateuch, see the 
author's " Study of the Pentateuch." 



64 THE PENTATEUCH. 

NOTE A. 

Several eminent critics on the Continent and in England, 
and a few in this country, hold that the Pentateuch, with the 
exception of a few brief passages, was not written till a period 
long subsequent to the time of Moses. The Book of Deu- 
teronomy was composed, some say forged, in the time of 
King Josiah, by Hilkiah and his associates, and is the book 
which they pretended to have " found " while the Temple was 
undergoing repairs. They also maintain that the ritual law, 
or Priest-Code as they call it, was not written till the return 
from the exile ; and that the Book of Genesis was a compi- 
lation made by an author as late probably as the last years 
of the kingdom of Judah. Some critics also claim that the 
code of ritual laws, though not written out, was growing up 
during the reign of the later kings, and that its fragmentary 
character is proof of it. Indeed, they maintain that Exodus- 
Numbers is a mosaic of fragments of laws selected from 
larger codes, and that these fragments can be separated. 
They have attempted to make this separation. But no two 
of them agree as to the fragments used, which shows that 
the fragmentary theory, as regards Exodus-Numbers, is 
by no means established, or capable of being established. 
To show the reader how the most eminent of these theo- 
retical critics differ in their selection of these fragments, I 
will give their dissection of Exodus xii. I select six of 
them, — Stahelin, Knobel, Kayser, Noldeck, Dillman, and 
Wellhausen. 

Stahelin selects as Elohistic verses 1-28, 43-51* 

Knobe I selects as Elohistic verses 1-23, 28, half of 2>li A°~ 
51 ; that is, Knobel omits four verses which Stahelin calls 
Elohistic, and adds four in different places to Stahelin's 
number. 

Kayser selects as Elohistic verses 1-10, 14-20, 28, 40-5 *• 
omitting thirteen verses that Stahelin accepts, and eleven 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 65 

verses that Knobel accepts. No two of the three agree in 
their choice of fragments. Again : 

Nbldeck selects as Elohistic verses 1-23 (24-27 doubtful), 
28, half of 37, 40-51. He differs from each of the other three 
in his selections, and attributes to some editor half of 37 and 
all of 38. 

Dillman selects as Elohistic verses 1-20, 28, half of 37, 40, 
41, 43-50 ; differing more or less from all the others, and 
attributing to another Elohistic writer verses 21 (?), 31-33, the 
other half of 37, 38, 42. Let the reader examine these divi- 
sions, and satisfy himself of their utter groundlessness. But 
I have not done. 

Wellhausen selects as Elohistic verses 1-20, 28, half of 
37, 40, 41, 43-50. He and Dillman agree in these selections ; 
but we shall see, as we proceed, that they differ in making other 
selections. 

I will only delay to say that these eminent critics, whose 
discoveries we are called upon to accept, do not agree. 

But there are the Jehovistic selections of these critics yet 
to be examined. 

Stdhelin selects as Jehovistic verses 29-36, leaving six 
verses of the chapter unaccounted for, or attributed to the 
compiler. This is seen by adding together his Elohistic and 
Jehovistic passages. 

Knobel selects as Jehovistic verses 24-27, 29-36, half of 
37, and 38, 39 ; differing widely from Stahelin. 

Kayser selects as Jehovistic verses 11— 13, 21-27, 29-39; 
differing from both the former. 

Nbldeck selects as Jehovistic verses 29-36, 39, and at- 
tributing to the compiler half of 37, and 38 ; not accounting 
at all for eleven verses, and differing from all the other 
critics. 

Dillman selects as Jehovistic verses 21 ?-27, 29, 30, 34-36, 
39, and not agreeing with any of the above named. 

Wellhausen selects as Jehovistic verses (21-27 doubtful) 
5 



66 THE PENTATEUCH. 

29-39, 42 ; not agreeing in this selection, as in the other, with 
Dill man, and with none of the others. 

Wellhausen, the most eminent among those who have at- 
tempted to show that the Pentateuch is made up of fragments, 
has a peculiar theory, which I will state. The reader can 
omit it if he is tired of this folly of learned men. 

The Jehovistic document, as we now have it, or fragments 
of it, in the Pentateuch, is composed of an original Jeho- 
vistic document, and a first, second, and third emendation 
of it ; so that, in fact, it had been changed by additions 
and subtractions three times, and consisted of four parts, 
namely, the original, and the three changes made by the three 
revisers. 

The Elohistic document underwent the same changes as 
the Jehovistic, and consisted of the original document and 
three revisions. 

In this condition these documents would seem to be in a 
sufficiently mixed state to defy separation. But be patient, 
reader, if indeed you have ventured to read. Wellhausen is 
not satisfied with this mixture, but says that the three-times 
revised Jehovistic document is promiscuously added to the 
three-times revised Elohistic document ; and these eight, or 
by another reckoning twenty, intermixed documents he claims 
to have detected and separated even to clauses of only a 
dozen words ! 

No two of these critics whom we are called upon to confide 
in and follow agree in more than one instance, and several 
passages in the chapter are not put into either the Jehovistic 
or Elohistic class, but are attributed to the compiler or editor 
of the Pentateuch. When we demand that at least two of 
these critics shall agree in their separation into fragments of 
the books before we are accused of stupidity or bigotry for 
not blindly following them, our demand is reasonable, and we 
should stand by it. Wellhausen goes so far as to say " there 
were at least twenty-two authors, editors, and emendators 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 67 

engaged in the composition and completion of the Pentateuch." 
Till some better agreement is reached than we find in these 
critics, and from whose opinion at least nine tenths, if not 
nineteen twentieths, of the Hebrew scholars in England and 
America decidedly dissent, it will be as reasonable as it is 
prudent to accept the conclusion that the Pentateuch is a 
work of the Mosaic age, and much of it the work of the hand 
of Moses. 

That some changes were made in later years is very prob- 
able, such as substituting modern for obsolete words and 
names, and notes to make plain an ancient statement. These 
by no means prove the late date of the book in which they 
are found. I give a few specimens of them. Genesis xii. 6, 
" And the Canaanite was then in the land." This clause and 
those like it were added after the conquest. Genesis xxiii. 2, 
" In Kirjath-Arba ; the same is Hebron." The last modern 
name is inserted to identify the old town. In Genesis xxxvi. 
31, " before there reigned a king over Israel," was inserted 
after the monarchy was established. The passage respect- 
ing the cessation of the manna (Exodus xvi. 35) belongs to 
the same class of explanatory notes. Leviticus xviii. 28, " as 
it spewed out the nations before you," is evidently a note. 
Deuteronomy ii. 12 contains another. So Exodus vi. 20, and 
xi. 3, unless, as is more than probable, the whole account, 
Exodus i.-xix. 25, was written many years after the events 
transpired. " The meekness of the man Moses," Numbers 
xii. 3, is clearly a marginal note. Let these suffice as speci- 
mens of explanatory notes which have become part of the 
text. They are easily detected. 



68 THE PENTATEUCH. 

NOTE B. 

THE STORY OF BALAAM. 
Numbers xxi.-xxiv. 

Balaam was an eminent soothsayer, the most eminent in 
all the Eastern country. As it was supposed that a sooth- 
sayer could both foretell and control events, kings were ac- 
customed to consult him and to seek his aid in times of 
difficulty. In great extremities, great sums were paid for 
such services. As in modern times large fees are paid to 
retain eminent lawyers, even if they are not employed, merely 
for the purpose of preventing their being employed by the 
other part)*, so in ancient times diviners were retained by 
large gifts, or persuaded to invoke the descent of a curse 
or a blessing. 

The circumstances under which Balaam was called to act 
challenged all his cunning and wisdom. The advancing 
Israelites had prostrated nation after nation, and the fame of 
their invincibility filled the land and the people with terror, 
from hut to palace. Moab and Midian trembled and were 
"sore afraid." It was in vain for them to put their trust in 
horses and chariots, in spearmen and bowmen. Only one 
resource seemed left to the terror-stricken kings and peoples. 
The supernal or infernal powers, or both, must be invoked 
and enlisted in their behalf. The great soothsayer Balaam 
must be sought, — he who had access to the supreme powers 
which control events and exalt or destroy nations. Vener- 
able men bearing rich rewards are sent to obtain his good- 
will and services. These Oriental princes are admitted to 
the presence of Balaam. They tell him of the terror of the 
kings, the irresistible march of Israel. 

Like other diviners, Balaam is wise, watchful of his fame, 
and greedy of fees. He must surround himself with mys- 
tery, to sustain his profession ; he must hesitate and defer, to 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. 69 

increase his compensation. He asks the embassy to stay over 
night that he may communicate with the supernal powers. 
When the morning comes, he reports that the signs are not 
propitious, and that he cannot go. The princes return and 
report to Balak. He is not discouraged, but sends " more 
princes and more honorable," and with richer fees than 
before. 

This is just what Balaam wanted. He was not a fool, if 
he was a knave. He tells the embassy that if Balak would 
give him his house full of silver and gold he cannot but obey 
the unseen powers ; but he asks them to tarry another night, 
and he will see what can be done ; possibly he may induce 
the powers to let him go and curse Israel. They remain. 
Once more Balaam reports, and more favorably. The powers 
permit him to go, but whether he should curse he could not 
tell, for that was not revealed to him ; ground shrewdly taken, 
as we shall see. 

That morning Balaam mounts his ass, takes two servants, 
and goes with the embassy. His ass was fractious on the 
way, and it is said that an angel appeared to the ass, and that 
the ass and Balaam had a short talk. Then the angel ap- 
peared to Balaam and gave him some good advice. Balaam 
offered to go back, but the angel said, " Go on ; only speak 
the word I shall give thee." 

All this, be it remembered, is Balaam's own story, for there 
is no evidence that the embassy or the servants heard this 
colloquy ; even if they travelled with him, they may never 
have heard what he told Balak about the desperate time he 
had in getting to him. He knew how to magnify his office 
and increase his importance and his fee. 

Balak meets him and promises him "honors" as well as 
richest rewards. But Balaam is shrewd. He has his repu- 
tation to preserve. He must not be tempted by any gold or 
honors to curse where the curse will not fall ; and he is pretty 
sure at first sight that Balak is frightened out of his wits and 



70 THE PENTATEUCH. 

cannot command his army, and that his army is equally scared 
and could not fight even if it were well led. He therefore 
apologizes, and tells Balak that he can speak only as he is 
permitted. 

The next day Balak takes Balaam upon the hills, that he 
may see Israel ; and there seven altars are built, and seven 
oxen and seven rams are offered. Balaam then goes away 
to a high place ; and there were encamped beneath him the 
hosts of Israel as the dust of the earth in multitude. He sees 
that it will not do to curse such a well-ordered and mighty 
host ; for surely they will conquer the timid Balak. He 
returns and so reports, in the impassioned language of a 
soothsayer under the influence of the higher powers whose 
instrument he is. Balak is angry. Balaam is willing to try 
another place for his offering : perhaps it will be more pro- 
pitious to Balak. They move to the top of Pisgah. The 
altars are built, the offerings laid upon them. Balaam again 
goes to consult the powers, and to take another look at Israel 
from " the top of the rocks." More numerous do the hosts 
appear, and certain to go on conquering and to conquer. It 
grows clear that they must scatter and destroy the forces of 
Moab. 

He returns again and reports to Balak the revelation of the 
higher powers, in the same impassioned tones and language. 
Balak is grieved and fearful ; for at this time, even a blessing 
falls upon Jacob from the soothsayer's lips. Still, he will not 
despair, and he proposes to try another place which may be 
more propitious. Balaam consents. They go to the top of 
Peor, and there again seven altars are erected and seven sac- 
rifices offered. But Balaam did not go away alone this time 
to consult the powers. His mind was made up. He sees 
that Balak was doomed. He lifts up his voice in the raptures 
of his occupation as soothsayer, and in loftiest strains of im- 
provised poetry he blesses the camp of Israel, lying at his feet, 
with richest promise of a most glorious future. 



THE LAW, AND ITS APPENDIX. J I 

Balak now smites his hands together in his fury. But 
Balaam is perfectly cool, as he can well afford to be. He 
tells Balak that he had said from the first that he had no 
power over what he should say : that was given him by the 
powers whom he consulted. " I told you," he says, " that if 
you would give me your house full of silver and gold, I could 
speak nothing but what was given me to speak. Why, then, 
are you angry with me ? But I have a word more to say, 
before my return, about this all-victorious people lying here 
in the valley below. They will become a great people, and 
under the guidance of a mighty ruler they will smite Moab 
and the neighboring nations." Then Balaam rose up and 
returned to his place, and left the paralyzed king to the ful- 
filment of the certain prophecy. 

When the Israelites heard of this visit and the incidents 
attending it, they saw in it the guiding hand of Jehovah, and 
immediately translated it, so to speak, into the language of 
their religion. The Lord guides, the Lord directs, the Lord 
teaches Balaam what to say and do. In a word, the Hebrew 
historian relates this story in the language of piety, and at- 
tributes every transaction to the agency of God. There is 
not a particle of evidence that Balaam's ass either saw an 
angel or spoke, except the testimony of Balaam himself, who 
was a soothsayer and understood his business well, as is evi- 
dent from the whole account. If any one will have it that 
his two servants were with him, we may be sure that they 
also understood their business well enough not to contradict 
their master. But they did not hear him tell this monstrous 
story to Balak when he wished to magnify the difficulties 
which he overcame on his journey, and the necessity which 
was laid upon him to obey the supernal powers. And when 
the story came to the ears of the Israelites it must have filled 
them with courage and certainty that God was with them and 
would give them the victory. 

There is nothing supernatural in the addresses of Balaam. 



72 THE PENTATEUCH. 

It was evident enough that Moab was conquered even before 
the battle ; and it was equally evident that the surrounding 
nations must yield to the prowess of this advancing host. 
This is just what Balaam says, and he says no more. To 
find a prophecy of the Messiah in the "star" which is to 
arise out of Jacob is inverting chronology ; for that star, or 
sceptre, was to smite Moab then, immediately, and not 
centuries afterwards. 

This view of the account makes it intelligible and reason- 
able, and satisfies both the critical and moral judgment. To 
maintain the literal truth and divine inspiration of the mon- 
strous story of this unprincipled soothsayer is a breach of all 
rules of interpretation, and an insult to common sense. We 
certainly should not believe the story from the lips of any other 
man, nor should we believe that God had revealed to such an 
one his purposes, even by the mouth of an ass, — instru- 
ment fit enough for communicating with such a trafficker in 
credulity, but hardly suitable for a divine messenger. If we 
can rely upon the accounts we have of him, Balaam was a 
bad man. He was an eminent soothsayer, as shrewd and 
cunning and greedy as he was eminent. To other men of 
quite other character and profession are we to look for 
instruction and guidance. 



PART IV. 

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 



PART IV. 

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



The Book of Joshua covers a period of about thirty 
years, narrating special events which transpired from the 
death of Moses to the death of Joshua. It may be 
divided into four parts : i. Narrating the ceremonies 
and wonders at the passage of the river Jordan, chapters 
i.-v. ; 2. Containing an account of the conquest of the 
land, chapters vi.-xii. ; 3. A description of the division of 
the land among the tribes, chapters xiii.-xxii. ; 4. Joshua's 
final addresses to the people, and an account of his death 
and burial, chapters xxiii., xxiv. 

In determining the historical value of this book, whether 
we can rely upon its statements as being authentic, it is 
important to know the author, the time at which he wrote, 
and his authorities, if he was not a contemporary and an 
eye-witness of the events which he narrates. 



J6 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Section I. — Author. 

It is agreed on all hands that Joshua was not the author 
of the book in the shape in which we now have it. Pos- 
sibly some fragments, of which the history is composed, 
were from his hand. The language of the book shows 
that it must have been written some generations after 
the Pentateuch, as the "archaisms" have disappeared. 
Davidson says : " Of later diction there are various evi- 
dences in the work ; though there are no such Chaldaisms 
as would refer it to the time of the captivity " (vol. i. p. 
426). Had we no other evidence than the change which 
had taken place in the language between the writing of 
the Pentateuch and the writing of the Book of Joshua, we 
should know that it could not have been written before 
his death. Half a century will not account for the differ- 
ence in the language of the two works. There is no evi- 
dence of any kind that Joshua wrote the work, as we now 
have it ; nor is there, either in the book itself or elsewhere, 
any clew to the author. 

Section II. — Age. 

The next inquiry is respecting the age in which the 
author wrote. To this we have some clew. The lan- 
guage of the book shows that it must have been written 
some generations after the time of Joshua, and before 
the time of the captivity, — between the years b. c. 
1300 (or 1400) and 600. But if we can rely upon the 






THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 77 

statements of three or four passages, a much closer ap- 
proximation can be made to the true date of the work. 
We read, Joshua xv. 63, " the Jebusites dwell with the 
children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day." But we 
read in 2 Samuel v. 6-9, that " David took the strong- 
hold of Zion " and drove out the Jebusites. This would 
show that the Book of Joshua was written before the 
middle of the reign of David, about B.C. 1050. Again, 
in chapter xvi. 10, we read that " they drove not out the 
Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer ; but the Canaanites dwell 
among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under 
tribute." But in 1 Kings ix. 16, we read, " Pharaoh, king 
of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer, and burnt it with 
fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and 
given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife " 
(b. c. 1 000). These passages would place the writing of 
the book before the close of the reign of Solomon, and do 
not contradict the other two passages which place its date 
as early as the middle of David's reign. Again, we read, 
Joshua ix. 27, that " Joshua made them [the Gibeonites] 
hewers of wood and drawers Of water . . . even unto this 
day, in the place which he should choose" From this it 
appears that the site of the temple had not been selected ; 
but in 1 Chronicles xxii. 1-3, we read of David's selecting 
the site of the temple and preparing to build it. These 
two passages, if we can rely upon their accuracy, — and 
there is no valid reason to suppose we cannot, — show 
that the Book of Joshua was not written after the reign 
of David, or after about b. c. 1050. This date agrees 



78 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

very well with the evidence of its age as inferred from 
its language. 

Besides this evidence of the age of the book, the phrase 
" unto this day " is frequently used by the writer ; and 
though it is too indefinite to mark the exact date of the 
book, it agrees with that fixed by the passages quoted. 
We may be morally sure, therefore, that the book was 
written as early as the reign of David, perhaps as early as 
the reign of Saul, or even in the time of Samuel, — accord- 
ing to the recent chronology, within about three hundred 
years of the time of Moses; but according to the old 
chronology, about five hundred years after his time, or 
about B.C. i ioo. This gives a period of from about 
three hundred to five hundred years from the composition 
of the book to the time in which the events transpired 
which it records. We are now ready for an inquiry re- 
specting the authenticity of the book as inferred from its 
contents, and the writer's authorities, if he refers to any. 

Section III. — Authenticity. 

The author makes no reference to any writing to au- 
thenticate what he says in the first twelve chapters, which 
speak of the passage of the Jordan and the conquest of 
the land, except in chapter x. 13, where he refers to the 
Book of Jasher as containing an account of the standing 
still of the sun and moon. The writer evidently depended 
upon tradition, and possibly on popular ballads, most prob- 
ably unwritten, though in the instance referred to he cites 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 79 

a " book." As the poet describes the sun and moon as 
standing still to favor the complete victory of Israel, and 
as Deborah sings that the " stars fought against Sisera," 
so we may suppose that the poet sang that the walls of 
Jericho " fell flat " in the presence of an assaulting foe, 
without the writer's telling what hand the soldiers had in 
levelling them. And so also the poet might sing that the 
waters of the Jordan rolled back and stood up so that 
the people might pass over dry-shod, without giving us 
the prosaic particulars of the passage. The author of the 
Book of Joshua either takes the old ballad for literal truth, 
or, in love with the wonderful tale, gives it as he finds it, 
with all its poetical exaggeration, relying upon the good 
sense of his readers not to interpret poetry as history. 
That Almighty Power could work such wonders as are 
here described, is not questioned ; that it did work them, 
requires a very different kind of evidence from that of 
an anonymous writer who lived from three to five cen- 
turies after the events, and who gives us no authority for 
his statements. According to recent measurements and 
the statement in Joshua, the water must have stood from 
eight hundred to a thousand feet high on the upper side 
of the crossing host ! And taking the account as it stands 
in Joshua, if the people in marching around Jericho had 
marched in ranks of fifty in a rank, and the ranks were 
within three feet of each other, they would have made a 
column seven miles long, and would have marched forty- 
nine miles to go around the city seven times, — which is 
incredible. That the soldiers tore down the walls, is 



80 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

evident from their sparing the house of Rahab, which 
stood upon the wall, and was protected by a sign (a red 
cloth) agreed upon. 

But my purpose is not exegetical. There is no suffi- 
cient evidence that the events which are recorded in this 
first part are trustworthy history. The accounts must be 
accepted or rejected as they commend themselves to our 
good sense, or the reverse. Their being in the Book of 
Joshua adds nothing to the evidence of their truth, as we 
shall see. 

The historical value of chapters xiii.-xxii. is based 
upon the metes and bounds of the tribes remaining in the 
time of the writer, or handed down by tradition, or re- 
corded in some book extant at the time ; for " the men 
went and passed through the land and described it by 
cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to 
Joshua." This part of the Book of Joshua has been 
properly likened to the Doomsday Book of England, in 
which the division of the land made by William the Con- 
queror among his followers was recorded ; and there is 
no more reason to question the accuracy of the one 
than that of the other, except that the account in Joshua 
has been exposed to much greater perils by erroneous 
transcriptions. The speeches of Joshua are probably such 
as the historian would put into the mouth of the conquer- 
ing hero. There is no evidence that Joshua ever delivered 
them in the words here reported. His place of burial 
would be preserved by tradition. 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 8 1 

Section IV. — Inspiration. 

The writer of this book makes no claim to any divine 
guidance in the collection and use of his materials, nor is 
there any evidence that he had any such guidance from 
either the subject of his work or its treatment ; nor is the 
Book of Joshua ever referred to as an inspired book in 
the common use of that word. There is no proof what- 
ever of the inspiration of the anonymous author in either 
the rest of the Old Testament or in the New, nor in the 
book itself. It simply stands upon its own merits without 
any divine sanction, and as such is to be read and inter- 
preted. The judgment of the reader is to be as freely 
used in accepting or rejecting any of its statements as in 
reading any other anonymous work of equal age, or indeed 
of any age, nor would its rejection as authentic history in 
the slightest degree affect the reception or rejection of any 
other book in the Bible as authentic and inspired. Each 
book must stand or fall on its own evidence. We can 
therefore dismiss it without any anxiety respecting the cruel 
war of extermination which is related in this book as being 
conducted by the special direction of God ; for we have 
no trustworthy evidence that he gave the specific com- 
mands and directions here recorded after the lapse of two 
or three centuries at least. And then, again, we must bear 
constantly in mind that the pious writer or compiler uses 
the language of religion, not of philosophy, when he speaks 
of transactions and events, and attributes every act, how- 
ever revolting to our Christian sense, to God, as a pious 

6 



82 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Catholic of the sixteenth century, in describing the insti- 
tution of the Inquisition, and the bloody wars in the Low 
Countries, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, 
attributes them to the will and direction of Deity. This 
rule, of interpretation cannot be too often nor too em- 
phatically enforced upon every reader of the Bible. The 
theory of myths, now so popular with a certain class of 
scholars, and the theory of the literal and personal guid- 
ance of God in all these transactions, are equally untrue 
and absurd. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 



The chronology of this book is very doubtful, and 
writers disagree very widely in their estimates of the 
length of time covered by it. Some critics believe that 
some of these judges were contemporaries ; others main- 
tain that they succeeded each other in the order named 
in this book. Some writers reduce the time during which 
the events recorded in this book transpired, to one hun- 
dred and fifty years ; others extend the time to three 
hundred years. I shall enter into no examination of the 
validity of the reasons which are given for either of these 
periods. Such an examination would be entirely for- 
eign to the purpose of this work. Simply remarking that 
I incline to accept the longer period, I proceed to an 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 8$ 

examination of the Contents, the Age, the Authorship, the 
Historical Value, and the Inspiration of the book itself. 



Section I. — Contents. 

This book notices at greater or less length the exploits 
and administration of thirteen magistrates, or warriors, 
called judges in our translation. There was at this time 
no national central government of the united tribes ; but 
each tribe, after taking possession of its allotted inheri- 
tance, administered its own affairs in its own way. under 
the laws, or contrary to the laws, given by Moses. These 
laws were very imperfectly enforced, when enforced at 
all, as the fragments composing the book show. There 
was a central resort of worship, the tabernacle, which ap- 
pears to have been moved from place to place ; but it 
was not always resorted to as the law required. Indeed, 
the second generation from slaves inured to all the 
hardships of servitude could not be expected to under- 
stand, or if they did understand, to adopt and obey, all 
the ideal legislation of Moses. That they did not and 
could not obey it constantly is certain. That they gen- 
erally aimed to do so is equally certain. If an enemy 
attacked a tribe, that tribe, with such of its neighbors as 
it could rally, engaged in war, and was victor or sub- 
dued. The affair did not seem particularly to interest the 
other tribes. They were in the condition of the American 
colonies when this country was first settled, and, indeed, 
down to the time of the formation of the Constitution. 



84 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Each colony acted for itself, and received aid from other 
sister colonies only as they were disposed to render it as a 
favor. Deborah complains bitterly of the tribes which did 
not aid her in the desperate war with the invader Sisera. 
Almost nothing is said of what took place in the years of 
peace. The exploits of the judges in the time of war 
occupy the historian's pen exclusively ; and it would seem 
to a cursory reader as if there were no years of peace and 
prosperity. But there were, according to one chronology, 
about one hundred and thirty years of peace, leaving about 
one hundred and seventy years of war. These wars were 
much like the border raids between England and Scotland, 
or the feuds of the Scottish clans, or even like our fron- 
tier wars with the Indians. They were the exploits of a 
few heroes rather than battles of organized armies. The 
exploit of Gideon, or the raid of Jephthah, is a good illus- 
tration of them. The war of Deborah appears to have 
been more formidable. 

These commanders (judges) sprang forward when the 
occasion demanded. They led the people because they 
were leaders by nature; and when the enemy was crushed 
out, the people still followed the leader who had shown 
himself capable of leading, by the success which had 
crowned his exploits. They were not elected, they were 
accepted. They were not sought, they appeared. In the 
language of religion, they were the chosen agents of the 
Lord to execute his will upon the enemies of his people 
and vindicate his promise to their fathers. Under his 
guidance and filled with his spirit, Samson " slew the 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 85 

Philistines hip and thigh with the jawbone of an ass," 
and pulled down the temple of Dagon on the heads of 
his worshippers. Inspired from the same source, Gideon 
sent confusion and slaughter into the camp of the Midian- 
ites, as, fired by the same impulse, the ancient Joan of 
Arc, Deborah, sent havoc and death into the hosts of 
Sisera. All these exploits were attended with marvels, — 
the dew on the fleeces of Gideon, and the appearance 
of the angel of the Lord with the wonderful rod which 
kindled a fire on the rock, and other things alike mar- 
vellous. Samson is a unique character, a kind of pious 
buffoon, a notorious athlete, whose feats of folly or 
strength evidently attracted the admiration of the writer. 
He is no military genius, nor is he a "judge," though 
called such. He is a Don Quixote, ready for an adven- 
ture or quarrel with anybody for any purpose or no 
purpose. 

In addition to the exploits of the judges, we have an 
account of the raid of the Danites to find and secure a 
new inheritance, and the shameful treatment of the con- 
cubine of a Levite by citizens of the tribe of Benjamin, 
and the consequent slaughter of thousands of Benjamites 
by the enraged surrounding tribes. 

What reliance can we place upon these accounts ? To 
answer this question intelligently, we must know the time 
in which the book was written, the author of it, and his 
authorities. 



86 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Section II. — Age. 

When was this book written? The language of the 
work is good Hebrew, is destitute of nearly all the pecu- 
liarities which mark the era of the captivity, and was 
therefore written before the carrying away into Babylon. 
The appendix, chapters xvii.-xxi., informs us that " Jona- 
than and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until 
the day of the captivity of the land" (xviii. 30). If 
this passage refers to the deportation of the ten tribes 
by Tiglath Pileser the Assyrian, then this appendix was 
not written till after 720 B.C. In the body of the book, 
chapter i. 21, we read that "the Jebusites dwell with 
the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day" 
But in 2 Samuel v. 6-8, we read that " David took the 
stronghold of Zion . . . and dwelt in the fort." These 
passages, if trustworthy, show that the body of the book 
was written before the middle of the reign of David. In 
chapter i. 29, we read, " Neither did Ephraim drive out 
the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer ; but the Canaanites 
dwelt in Gezer among them." But in 1 Kings ix. 16, we 
read that " Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and 
taken Gezer and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaan- 
ites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto 
his daughter, Solomon's wife." These passages show that 
the work was written before the marriage of Solomon to 
Pharaoh's daughter ; and all these passages place the age 
of the book as early as the close of the reign of Saul, or 
in it. I think it is safe to say that all the evidence taken 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 87 

into the account, — the language, the references to events, 
and the apparent or implied comparison between the con- 
fusion and insurrections of a tribal, uncentralized govern- 
ment, and the strength and harmony of a union among 
the tribes in a central government, — the writing or com- 
pilation of the body of the book may be placed as early 
at least as the first years of David's reign. This carries 
back the nearest events to more than a century before 
the time of David, and the earliest ones to three centuries 
before his time, perhaps even earlier. The writer, there- 
fore, could not have been an eye-witness of the events 
which he narrates. What authorities, therefore, did he 
use, and were they trustworthy? 

Section III. — Authorities. 

No books are quoted, no authorities of any kind are 
referred to ; and yet it is evident that the author had some 
fragments of songs and stories of exploits to which he re- 
fers, and which he sometimes quotes. These fragments 
were probably unwritten scraps of poems composed in 
honor of feats of strength or cunning or war, colored by 
the atmosphere of a dim antiquity. The difference be- 
tween a prose and poetic description of a battle or exploit 
may be seen by comparing the two accounts of the battle 
of Deborah and Sisera, chapters iv., v. The writer of this 
book, like Cotton Mather, loved marvels, and probably 
believed them, and the more marvellous they were, the 
more he admired them. It is impossible to tell how 



88 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

much truth there is in the strange stories which he had 
found among the traditions of fully three centuries. The 
bravado and quarrelsomeness of Samson appear to charm 
him as much as the heroism of Gideon and Deborah. I 
can overlook his poor taste when I remember that he did 
appreciate the song of Deborah, and has preserved for 
us one of the sublimest paeans of all the ages. I present 
it to the reader in a new translation. 

Then sang Deborah, and Barak son of Abinoam, in that 
day, saying : — 

Prelude. 

For the bravery of the chieftains of Israel, 

Tor the volunteering of the people, 

Praise Jehovah ! 

Hear, Kings ! Listen, Princes ! 

I, even I, unto Jehovah will sing ! 

I will sound the harp in honor of Jehovah, God of Israel I 

Jehovah ! when Thou wentest forth from Seir, 

When Thou marchedst from the field of Edom, 

The earth trembled, the heavens, also, poured, 

Even the clouds poured down waters. 

Mountains quaked before the face of Jehovah ! 

That Sinai, before the face of Jehovah, God of Israel : 

The Desperate Condition. 

In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, 
In the days of Jael, the highways were untrodden ! 
And travellers, instead of the public roads, 
Took winding, obscure by-paths ! 
They failed, leaders failed in Israel, 
Until I arose, I Deborah arose 
A mother in Israel. 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 89 

They chose new Gods. 
Then war was at their gates ! 
A shield, lo it was not seen, nor spear, 
Among the forty thousand warriors in Israel ! 

The Summons. 

My heart is to the princes of Israel, 
To the volunteers of the people. 
Praise Jehovah ! 
Ye riders on white asses, 
Ye recliners on couches, 
Ye travellers in the ways, 
Sing! 

For the shouting of the spoilers by the watering troughs : 
There shall they celebrate the righteous acts of Jehovah ! 
Righteous acts, for his leaders in Israel ! 
Then shall the people of Jehovah go down to their gates ! 

Awake ! Awake ! Deborah, 

Awake ! Awake ! Sing ! 

Arise, Barak ! lead forth thy captives, 

Son of Abinoam ! 

The Gathering. 

I said, descend, ye survivors ! 

Descend, ye people, against the princes ! 

Jehovah, descend for me against the mighty ! 

From Ephraim those whose dwelling is by Amalek, 

After thee, Benjamin with thy hosts; 

From Machir, came down princes, 

From Zebulun, came down standard-bearers, 

Also, my princes of Issachar were with Deborah. 

And Issachar, like Barak, 

Into the valley, rushed with his hosts ! 

The Cowardly. 

By the brooks of Reuben 
Were great debatings and agitations of heart ! 



90 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Why didst thou sit among thy sheepfolds ? 

To listen to the pipings of thy flocks ? 

By the brooks of Reuben 

Were great debatings and agitations of heart ! 

Beyond Jordan, Gilead remained in his abode ! 
And Dan, why remained he among his ships ? 
Asher, at his ease, continued by the sea-shore, 
And among his harbors was quiet ! 

Zebulun ! That people perilled their lives even unto death ! 
And Naphtali, upon the high places of his habitation ! 

The Battle. 

Kings came : they fought : 
They fought : the Kings of Canaan fought . 

By Taanach, at the waters of Megiddo. 
Spoil of silver they took not. 

From heaven, they fought, 
The stars from their circuits fought against Sisera ! 
The river Kishon swept them away, 
That river of renown, the river Kishon ! 
Thou, O my soul, trample on the mighty ! 
Then rattled the hoofs of the horses, 
In the charge, the charge of his heroes ! 

The Curse. 

Curse Meroz, saith the angel of Jehovah ! 
Pour out curses on its inhabitants, 
Because they came not to the aid of Jehovah, 
To the aid of Jehovah against the warriors. 

The Heroine. 

Blessed above all women be Jael, 
The wife of Heber, the Kenite ! 
Above all the tent-women, be she blessed ! 
Water he asked — milk she gave; 
In a princely dish, curdled milk she brought 1 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 9 1 

In her left hand she took the tent-pin, 

In her right, a workman's hammer. 

She smote Sisera — she crushed through his head ! 

At her feet he bowed ! he fell ! he lay ! 

At her feet he bowed ! he fell ! 

Where he bowed, there he fell dead ! 

Distress of the Mother of Sisera. 

From the window she looked, she cried ; 
The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice, 
" Why delayeth his chariot to come ? 
Why linger the steps of his chariot? " 
The wise of her princesses answer her, 
Yea, she returneth answer to herself, 
" Lo they have found, they divide the spoil, 
A maiden, two maidens, to each warrior, 
A spoil of dyed garments for Sisera : 
A spoil of dyed garments, parti-colored, 
A colored vestment, two divers colored vestments, 
For the neck of the spoiler ! " 

The Triumph. 

So perish all thine enemies, Jehovah ! 
But those who love him are like the sun 
Going forth in his splendor. 

Section IV. — Author. 

The author of this book is unknown, as well as his 
authorities. Hence we must be governed by our own 
good sense as to how much can be accepted as authentic 
history. Probably but little can be so received. But the 
recent as well as the ancient attempts to represent as 
mythical personages Samson and his compeers are as 
groundless and as ridiculous as the old belief that Jephthah 



92 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

was inspired by God to sacrifice his daughter, and Jaei 
impelled by the Holy Spirit to murder a guest, is gross 
and blasphemous. These old stories, related by this writer 
in all love and simplicity, are no mysteries and no myths, 
but the real tradition of real transactions colored by the 
refracting atmosphere of many centuries, and poetic hy- 
perboles. Let them be read as we read the traditions of 
any early people, and there will often be found in them 
a beauty, a heroism, and a patriotism worthy of our 
imitation. I would call special attention to the heroism 
of Gideon, chapters vi.-viii., and to the beautiful fable of 
Jotham, chapter ix. 1 

Section V. — I?ispiration. 

The writer of this book makes no claim to inspiration, 
or to any divine aid either in the selection of the materials 
or in the composition of his book. Nor is there any evi- 
dence anywhere else, from any other writer, of the inspired 
character of this Book of Judges. To call it " The Word 
of God" is a boldness on which the reverent and thought- 
ful mind will hesitate to venture. The appendix is no 
more a part of the Book of Judges than is the following 
Book of Ruth, and the unknown author of it claims no 
inspiration ; indeed he needed none, any more than did 
the writer of the history of the Great Plague in London. 
Let the Book of Judges be received for just what it is ; 
namely, a collection of early traditions respecting the feats 

1 See note at the end of this chapter. 



THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 93 

of the heroes of Israel before the time of the kings, by an 
antiquarian who was no less fond of the marvellous than 
of his nation. 

NOTE. 

REMARKABLE FACTS. 

As an illustration of the danger of rejecting as authentic 
history remarkable occurrences and marvellous statements 
of numbers, I will call the reader's attention to the following 
fact respecting the class presenting themselves for entering 
Harvard College, 1881. Two hundred and forty young men 
presented themselves, of whom one hundred and fifty-four 
were admitted, and eighty-six rejected. These men were 
numbered from 1 to 240. Of these the first 5, with one ex- 
ception, in every 20 were rejected. Thus 1-5 inclusive, 
21-25 inclusive, 41-45, 61-65, 81-85, 101-105, 121-125, 141- 
145, 161-165, 181-185, 201-205, 221-225. Now, the chance 
that this would happen, or a priori be true, is as one to 
infinity, or as one to a row of figures round the earth. It 
looks like a carefully arranged plot. 

But this is not all. All the number c/s in the even io's (as 
29, 49, 69, 89, etc.) to 149 were rejected, while all the number 
9's in the odd io's (as 9, 19, 39, 59, etc.) to 159 were admitted, 
and also all numbers above 159 having 9 for the last figure, 
as 169, 179, 189, 199, etc. That such would be the result 
of the examination of 240 persons seems incredible. The 
statement would be instantly rejected by many critics if 
found in the Hebrew books. Indeed, things not half as 
improbable would be scouted. 

A remarkable correspondence of years is found in the ages 
and times of service of the presidents of the United States. 
Jefferson was born eight years after John Adams, and Madi- 
son eight years after Jefferson, and Monroe eight years after 
Madison, and John Quincy Adams eight years after Monroe. 



94 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

This is curious enough, and antecedently to proof incredible 
enough ; but there is something to render it more incredible. 
John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were each 
sixty-six years old when they retired from the presidency. 
Nor is this all. The first three died on the 4th of July, 
and two of the three died on the same 4th, and these two 
were signers of the Declaration of Independence. Now, the 
improbability of such a coincidence is as one to millions of 
millions. Yet it is true that it did take place. It will not 
do to be hasty in denying the occurrence of very strange 
things. 

For examples of the mythical interpretation of the events 
recorded in the books of Joshua and Judges, see the author's 
" Study of the Pentateuch," pp. 59-65. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE BOOK OF RUTH. 

Section I. 

This book is a prose idyl of great beauty, illustrating 
the simplicity of Eastern life in the early ages. It was 
once connected with the Book of Judges as an appendix, 
but was afterwards separated from it and reckoned as a 
separate book. The object of the book appears to be to 
give an account of David's ancestry ; and if this was the 
writer's purpose, it must have been written after the reign 
of David or during it, — possibly the latter. The gene- 
alogy in chapter iv. 18-22, is obviously incomplete, since 



THE BOOK OF RUTH. 95 

from Pharez to David — eight hundred and fifty years, if 
the chronology is correct — there are but ten persons 
named, making the average age, at the time of the birth 
of the sons named, eighty-five years, which is improbable, 
though not impossible. 



Section II. — Age. 

In chapter i. i, we read that " in the days when the 
judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a certain 
man of Beth-lehem-Judah went to sojourn in the country 
of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." This pas- 
sage implies very clearly that the book was not written till 
after the time of the Judges, as the one previously quoted 
shows that it was not written till the age of David or after 
it. The language shows that it was not written after the 
captivity. The few Chaldaisms which are claimed by 
. some critics may well have crept into the text through 
the carelessness of later copyists. The exact time of the 
composition of the book cannot be determined. 

Section III. — Author. 

Various conjectures have been made respecting the 
author of this delightful little book, but absolutely nothing 
is known on the subject- That the writer was a person 
of refined taste, and in deep sympathy with the heroine 
of the story, is evident. 



96 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Section IV. — Authorities. 

We have no more knowledge respecting the author's 
sources of information than respecting the author himself. 
He had access evidently to the genealogies of the people, 
kept carefully for the settlement of all questions of inheri- 
tance which might arise. Whether there were written 
biographical documents in existence which he could use, 
is doubtful. He most probably relied upon tradition for 
his facts, as possibly only about a hundred or a hundred 
and fifty years had passed between the time of Ruth and 
the time of the author. The mention of a custom of 
former times in Israel, chapter iv. 7, shows that a consider- 
able period had elapsed since the event transpired ; but 
a century, or a century and a half, would be sufficient to 
change such a custom. 

Section V. — Autheiiticity a?id Inspiration. 

There is no reason to doubt the general accuracy of the 
story. No marvels are narrated to awaken doubt, and the 
events recorded are such as in that age, and under those 
circumstances, would be very likely to happen. There is 
no claim made by the writer to any divine aid in selecting 
the incidents, or in their narration. Nor does any writer 
in the Bible claim for this author divine guidance, or for 
this book any inspiration. It is to be received as an 
account of the ancestry of David, especially as a recital 
of a romantic incident in the life of Ruth, and of her filial 



THE BOOK OF RUTH. 97 

devotion to her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, when she 
said, " Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou 
lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and 
thy God my God ; where thou diest will I die, and there 
will I be buried : the Lord do so to me, and more also, 
if aught but death part thee and me." Dr. Davidson is 
very much charmed with this book, and thus writes of it : 

" This quiet picture of private life among the Hebrews 
is eminently attractive. The author, possessing a peculiar 
power of description, and animated with a poetic spirit, has 
succeeded in constructing a picturesque narrative. He was 
a learned man, familiar with the historical and poetical liter- 
ature of his nation. And he had a gift of appropriating all 
that was pertinent to his purpose in an original way, as is 
observable in the arrangement of the story, the form in which 
it is set forth, the spirit which breathes throughout it, the 
masterly delineation of character, and the purity of language. 
So complete and beautiful is the entire portraiture, that the 
substance of the story is less considered by the reader than 
the delineation itself. There is a mixture of the learned and 
the artistic, which throws a peculiar charm over the piece, 
and distinguishes it from all others. How nice must have 
been the writer's perception of moral purity ! How much 
alive he was to a sense of the beautiful in virtue ! And 
what ability he had to reanimate an ancient tradition and 
form it into an attractive picture ! With what plastic skill 
he clothes it with flesh and blood, so that universal humanity 
admires ! " 

Both by pencil and pen, in picture and poem, have 
modern artists and scholars attempted to represent their, 
admiration of these characters. 



98 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL. 

The Jews originally made but one book of our present 
two books of Samuel ; and the Greek translation, made in 
Egypt two or three centuries before Christ, called the Sep- 
tuagint, and also the Latin translation used by the Romish 
Church, called the Vulgate, name these two books the 
first and second books of the Kings, and first and sec- 
ond Kings are called third and fourth Kings, as if the 
four books were by one author. But the language and 
style clearly indicate that the two books of Samuel and 
the two books of the Kings had different authors. The 
only serious difficulty which arises in supposing different 
authors for the Samuels and the Kings is found in the 
apparently abrupt conclusion of 2 Samuel with the nar- 
ration of the purchase by David of Araunah's threshing- 
floor, when he lived but two years longer; and the inci- 
dents of his last illness and death are narrated in the first 
two chapters of 1 Kings. However great the difficulty 
may be in accounting for this abrupt termination of the 
work of the writer of the books of Samuel, it is not so 
great as that of accounting for the diversity of language 
and style in Samuel and Kings if we assume that all these 
books were from the same pen. Sickness or death may 
have compelled the writer to lay aside his pen, as in the 



THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL. 99 

case of the writer of Mark's Gospel, whose work, as is sup- 
posed, closes with the eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter, 
the last eleven verses being added by another hand. 

Section I. — Contents. 

These two books of Samuel may be divided into three 
parts : The first part, chapters i.-vii., treats of the judgeship 
of Eli and Samuel; the second part, chapters viii.-xxxi., 
relates incidents in the call and reign of Saul; and the 
third part, 2 Samuel, chapters i.-xxiv., gives a sketch of 
the reign of David. In addition to the acts of these four 
men of eminence, we have a glimpse of the character of 
the prophets Nathan and Gad. Samuel established or 
encouraged the " school of the prophets," in which music 
and recitation, and apparently extemporaneous speaking, 
were taught and enjoyed, 1 Samuel x. 5 ; for the Hebrew 
word translated " prophesy " does not signify predicting 
future events simply, but addressing the people, especially 
on religious subjects, and often it would seem in a kind 
of chant, accompanying the words with music on some 
instrument. A full discussion of the office of a prophet 
will be given when an examination of the prophetical 
books is reached. It is sufficient for the present to say 
that they were usually an educated class of men. 

There are very few wonders or marvellous things re- 
corded in these books. The most marvellous are the story 
of the birth of Samuel, of the witch of Endor, and of the 
combat of David and Goliath. Respecting the witch of 



100 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Endor, it is sufficient to say that no one, not even Saul, 
claims to have seen Samuel, but the witch only, and this 
was a part of her business. She managed her part well. 
And because Saul chanced to be killed the next day, as 
the witch predicted, it is no evidence that she had any 
more knowledge of the future than any modern necro- 
mancer or fortune-teller. God does not make revelations 
of truth to such creatures. The heroic act of David con- 
tains nothing miraculous, nor does it claim any divine 
interposition. Some most beautiful fragments of poetry 
are preserved in these books, especially the elegy on Saul 
and Jonathan, 2 Samuel i. 19-27. Our translators have 
made a ludicrous blunder in translating it, as is shown 
on page 11. 

Section II. — Object 

The writer of these books appears to have had but one 
object in view, and that a very simple one j namely, to 
give, in an abridged form, a popular and readable sketch 
of the course of affairs during this period of about a cen- 
tury and a half; and no bias appears which causes us to 
distrust his faithfulness and the credibility of his story, if 
his authorities were trustworthy. What were they ? 

Section III. — Authorities. 

The author would probably in many instances rely upon 
tradition, and this source is less to be depended upon than 
all others. The size of Goliath and the length of his spear 



THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL. IOI 

are illustrations of the exaggerated form in which tradition 
transmits accounts. But our author undoubtedly had be- 
fore him written documents and annals from which he 
drew generally ; as we learn that " the acts of David the 
king first and last are written in the Book of Samuel the 
seer, and in the Book of Nathan the prophet, and in 
the Book of Gad the seer," i Chronicles xxix. 29. The 
writer also draws from the great song-book of the nation, 
the exploits of her heroes, the Book of Jasher ; 2 Samuel 
i. 18. Some of these rhapsodies of victory are introduced 
in full, 2 Samuel xxii. ; others he has probably reduced to 
prose, yet retaining many of their hyperbolical expressions ; 
for instance, the account of David's victory, 1 Samuel 
xviii. 7, his elegy on Abner, 2 Samuel iii. 33, 34, and his 
elegy on Absalom, 2 Samuel xviii. 33. The sources for 
an authentic history appear to be sufficient, and no bias 
can be discovered in the mind of the author leading him 
to discolor them. Who was he? 

Section IV. — Author and Age. 

Samuel was not the author, for the death of this prophet 
is recorded in 1 Samuel xxv. 1. As already said, the book 
was not written by the same author as the books of the 
Kings, as the language and style show. Samuel is much 
more rhetorical than Kings, which is more like a collection 
of annals. The books are free from Chaldaisms, such as 
are found in the books written after the exile, and there- 
fore they were written before the captivity. That they 



102 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

were written after the secession of the ten tribes is also 
evident, if we can rely upon the passage in i Samuel 
xxvii. 6, " Ziklag pertaineth to the kings of Judah unto 
this day" It is therefore very clear that these books 
were written after the secession of the ten tribes, and 
perhaps soon after. Their author is unknown. 

Section V. — Authe?iticity and Inspiration, 

There is no reason to question the substantial accuracy 
of the history. Davidson says, " On the whole, the air of 
genuine fidelity marks the history. For the most part, 
the connection of events is natural." There are a few in- 
stances of angelophany mentioned, but they do not affect 
the general credibility of the record. Some of the sketches 
are very graphic, and touch the heart of the reader very 
deeply. Everything is living and active. The reader's con- 
fidence is won as the story proceeds. Nothing is kept back 
which damages the uprightness of the heroes of the story 
Savage deeds, at the recital of which the blood curdles, are 
narrated as frankly as those which do honor to the actors. 

There is no claim made by the writer to any divine 
guidance either in the selection or use of his materials ; 
nor does any other author of any of the books in the Bible 
claim for him, whoever he was, or for his work, any inspi- 
ration whatever; nor does his work require it. These 
books are to be read as any other historical work, and the 
trustworthiness of their contents judged by the same rule 
which we apply to them. 



THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS. 103 

CHAPTER V. 

THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS. 

These books bring down the history to the time of the 
destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of Judah by 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a period of four hun- 
dred and twenty-seven years, from B.C. 1015 to 588. 
The Jews made but one book of the two, and the Septua- 
gint and the Vulgate call them "the third and fourth books 
of the Kings." 

The history may be divided into three portions : 1. To 
the death of Solomon, or perhaps better, to the division 
of the kingdom by the secession of the ten tribes, about 
forty-five years; chapters i.-xii. 2. To the captivity of 
Israel, a period of two hundred and fifty years, to 725 B.C. ; 
1 Kings xiii.-2 Kings xvii. 3. To the captivity of Judah, 
a period of one hundred and thirty-seven years, to 588 
b. c. ; 2 Kings xviii.-xxv. The most remarkable episode 
in this history is the stories of the prophets Elijah and 
Elisha, especially that of the former. Both were remark- 
able men ; and the marvels of Elijah's life, — the kindling 
of the sacrifice on Carmel in the contest with the priests 
of Baal, the healing of Naaman, the raising of the widow's 
son, the multiplying of her cruse of oil, the supply of food 
by the ravens, the swimming of the iron, and Elijah's trans- 
lation to heaven, — most if not all of these indicate the 



104 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

coloring which traditio?i gives to the acts of remarkable 
men. How authentic these accounts are must be decided 
by the character of the author and the value of his sources 
of information, to be examined at the proper time. That 
there were many writers and much literature during this 
period there can be no doubt, though but few precious 
fragments have come down to our day. There were the 
records kept by the civil government, the chronicles of 
the kings ; and there were the writings of the prophets 
and the poets of the nation ; and there were also the 
works of her students, of whom Solomon was one ; and 
his attainments and works are mentioned as if it was rare 
for kings, as it was and is, to make science and literature 
a study. But Solomon is said to have spoken " three 
thousand proverbs ; and his songs were a thousand and 
five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in 
Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the 
wall ; he spake also of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping 
things and of fishes." 

Nor was Solomon the only student and writer of his 
time. There were the prophets and writers, Nathan and 
Iddo, who are named as biographers and historians, and 
also Abijah and Ahijah and Shemaiah, who are named as 
prophets, and who doubtless were writers also. In the 
second period, from the secession to the captivity of the 
ten tribes, besides the chronicles of the kings and frag- 
ments of the prophecies or addresses of Joel, Amos, and 
Hosea, we read of the prophet Jehu ; i Kings xvi. i. He 
may not have been a writer, but simply a speaker, like 



THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS. 105 

Elijah and Elisha. The prophet Jonah is spoken of in 
2 Kings xiv. 25. In the third period we find the number 
of prophets named largely increased, and their writings, 
which have been preserved, much more extensive. Micah, 
Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, 
and Obadiah, and the Chronicles of the kings are fuller. 
The first two periods were the golden age of Hebrew 
literature, which sheds its glow of glory into the first half 
of the third period. 

Not many marvels are found in the records of the 
kingdom of Judah. The recession of the shadow on the 
sun-dial of Ahaz, and the healing of Hezekiah by the 
prescription of Isaiah, and the destruction of Sennacherib's 
army, are the principal ones. 

The style of the books is not rhetorical, as is that of the 
books of Samuel ; but it is good, and for the most part 
free from the feebleness which marks the style of other 
writers at the commencement of the captivity. The writer 
is particular to give the dates of events, as in 1 Kings ii. 
11, "The days that David reigned over Israel were forty 
years ; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty and 
three years reigned he in Jerusalem." 

Section I. — Object. 

The object of the writer, as far as it can be determined 
by his work, was to select from the history of his people 
such events as would be most attractive to the reader, — 
pivotal events, on which great interests depended, and on 



106 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

which the destiny of the nation turned, illustrating the evil 
of disregarding the Law, and incidentally the sin of desert- 
ing the worship of Jehovah as prescribed in the Hebrew 
ritual; and he has certainly been very fortunate in the 
selection and grouping of incidents. 

Section II. — Authenticity. 

The authenticity of the books depends upon the validity 
of the sources from which the author obtained his informa- 
tion, and upon the accurate use of his material. Respect- 
ing the first, — the sources on which our author relied, — 
he names, "A book of the acts of Solomon" once; "a 
book of the chroiiicles of the kings of Israel" sixteen 
times, i Kings xiv. 19, etc.; "a book of the chronicles of 
the kings of Judah" fifteen times, 1 Kings xiv. 29, etc. 
There is no reason to doubt that the writer used freely 
also such poems and traditions, unwritten, as had come 
down to his day ; and his free introduction of some poeti- 
cal hyperboles into his description of great events sustains 
such a supposition. An illustration may be found of this 
kind of writing in Joshua, where the sun and moon are 
said to stand still during the close of the great battle 
between Israel and the Philistines, and also in 2 Samuel 
xxii., where David celebrates his escape from the hands 
of Saul by saying that " Jehovah bowed the heavens and 
came down, and darkness was under his feet . . . the earth 
shook and trembled ; the foundations of heaven moved 
and shook, . . . and the channels of the sea appeared, the 



THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS. 107 

foundations of the world were discovered." Such poetical 
phraseology the author would be very likely to introduce 
into his prose from the old poems before him, written in 
honor of great victories or great personages. These re- 
markable expressions would be likely to be numerous in 
proportion as the author was distant from the events which 
he narrates, and was a firm if not a fanatical believer in 
Jehovah's special care of his people Israel. 

There is no reason to suppose that the writer did not 
make judicious use of his materials, and that his brief 
sketch of the history of his people is not substantially 
correct. His frequent appeals to his authorities, and his 
still more frequent carefulness to give the date of an event, 
awaken confidence in his integrity ; and if he has exhibited 
at times signs of unjustifiable credulity respecting some 
marvels which tradition had preserved, let us not condemn 
his whole work, for credulity has marked the works of all 
the early historians. Besides, after the history of Israel 
and the history of Assyria and Babylonia become contem- 
poraneous, the accuracy of our author is sustained by all 
the discoveries made in the exhumed cities of the East 
by Layard, Rawlinson, Smith, Sayce, and Rassam. The 
two books of the Kings are as reliable as any historical 
works of that age ; and other works may as well be cor- 
rected by these as these by those, when they differ. 1 

1 M. Oppert by strict computation reduces the whole number of cases in which 
the Biblical chronology can be proved to be at fault, to the surprisingly low figure 
of eight. Nor are the errors the correction of which is needed for the restoration 
of a full synchronistic accord of any particular magnitude. " Ahab did not reign 
twenty-two years, but twenty-one;" " Menahem did not reign ten years, but at 



108 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Section III. — Author and Age. 

Of the author of these books we know nothing, except 
what we can gather from his work. Neither his name nor 
his residence is known, and all the guesses of super- 
serviceable critics are vain. 

The time when this book was written is limited, at the 
latest, to the first years of the captivity, as the language 
partakes in only a slight degree of the corruptions intro- 
duced by it. Probably the author had been writing before 
the city was taken, and finished his work immediately 
afterwards, — not later than 561 B.C.; 2 Kings xxv. 
27-30. These verses may be an addition. 

Section IV. — Inspiration. 

The writer of these books nowhere claims any divine 
aid in either the selection of his materials or in their use, 
nor does any writer in the Bible claim it for him. That 
he was inspired, or that his books are inspired, in the 
usual acceptation of that word, is a mere human invention, 
without any solid foundation whatever. 

least six months longer ; " " Joram could not have reigned eight consecutive 
years," etc. It will thus not be surprising that the dates as reconstructed by 
M. Oppert do not materially differ from those hitherto generally given in works on 
Bible history. The principal of them are : death of Solomon, 978 B. c. ; accession 
of Ahab, 920 ; death of Ahab, October, 900 ; accession of Jehu, 887 ; fall of 
Samaria, June, 721 ; expedition of Sennacherib, 700, —not in the 14th but in the 
27th or 28th year of Hezekiah (the gravest concession to the Assyrian records) ; 
accession of Nebuchadnezzar, July, 605; destruction of Jerusalem, August, 587; 
release of Jehoiachin, April, 561. 



THE BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. 109 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. 

Section I. — Contents. 

The two books of the Chronicles were by the ancient 
Jews reckoned as one book, and were called " Annals." 
The translators of the Septuagint made two books, and 
called them " omitted things." They may be divided 
into five parts : 1. The genealogies, chapters i.-ix. ; 2. The 
reign of David, chapters x.-xxix. ; 3. The reign of Solo- 
mon, 2 Chronicles, chapters i.-ix. ; 4. The kingdoms of 
Judah and Israel, chapters x.-xxviii. ; 5. The kingdom 
of Judah, chapters xxix.-xxxvi. Some critics think that 
the two books of the Chronicles and the books of Ezra 
and Nehemiah constitute but one work, and that they are 
from the pen of one author or compiler. But there is 
no conclusive reason for such an opinion ; and I shall 
treat the last two books separately, as being not only more 
convenient, but also as being more correct. 

The first part of the books of the Chronicles, chapters 
i.-ix., is made up of genealogies beginning with Adam, 
and coming down in the branches of some families as late 
as the Maccabees. There are large omissions and addi- 
tions in them when compared with the genealogies in the 
other books. They differ very widely from them in some 



110 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

respects, which shows either that the writer had other 
copies of genealogies from those used by the earlier writers, 
or that bad work had been made by copyists substituting 
by mistake one name for another, or misspelling a name, 
or by depending upon family tradition where there was no 
written record. Everybody knows, who has attempted to 
do it, how difficult it is to compile a genealogy, and how 
full of mistakes genealogies are. The phenomena pre- 
sented by the genealogies in the Chronicles prove nothing 
against either the competency or the honesty of the com- 
piler. There is no evidence that he did not use wisely 
such materials as he had. 

The remainder of the two books covering the period 
from the reign of David to the captivity of Judah, 1012-588 
b. c, is parallel with the history in Samuel and Kings, but 
is very much briefer, and is mostly confined to an account 
of ecclesiastical affairs, the Temple sendee, the Levites, the 
priests, and the defections of the people to idolatry. It 
maybe called church history, as distinguished from civil his- 
tory, when compared with the books of Samuel and Kings. 
There is no evidence that it was written with any ecclesias- 
tical bias or controversial purpose. The story is told straight 
on without any apparent object but to tell it. So far is it 
from being true that its purpose was to exalt the priesthood 
and discriminate against the Levites, that in the celebra- 
tion of the great passover by king Hezekiah, we read that 
when the " priests were too few, so that they could not 
flay all the burnt offering, their brethren the Levites did 
help them till the work was ended, and until the other 



THE BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. Ill 

priests had sanctified themselves ; for the Levites were 
more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the 
priests " (2 Chronicles xxix. 34). This sounds little like 
a writer whose purpose in writing history was to disparage 
the Levites and exalt the priests. And again, at the great 
passover of King Josiah we read that the Levites flayed 
the animals and rendered other service which pertained 
to the priest's office ; " roasting the passover with fire ac- 
cording to the ordinance ; but the holy offerings sod they 
in pots and in caldrons and in pans, and divided them 
speedily among all the people, and afterwards they made 
ready for themselves and for the priests; because the 
priests, the sons of Aaron, were busied in offering burnt 
offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites 
prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of 
Aaron." This does not sound like the voice of a dis- 
parager of the Levites and an exalter of the priests. 
There is no proof that this writer was a partisan of the 
priests, as is so often affirmed by a certain class of critics 
who are biassed by their theories of historical and religious 
development. The author is certainly as candid and un- 
biassed, to say the least, as any ecclesiastical historian of 
modern times ; and his authorities are all prophets, who, 
it is contended by the same class of critics, were hostile 
to the ritual, and especially to the priesthood ; and some 
of these critics have been so extravagant as to maintain 
that these books were forged to sustain the supremacy of 
the priests. 



112 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Section II. — Authorities. 

But a writer may be able and unbiassed, and his history 
fail of commanding confidence for want of proper and reli- 
able sources of information. How was it with our author ? 
Had he reliable sources of information ? This is the next 
question to be answered. Twelve sources of information 
are named. It is possible, indeed it is very probable, that 
some of them are the same work under different names. 
He gives as his authority for the genealogies, " the book 
of the kings of Israel and Judah," in which " they were 
written." For the reign of David he gives three authori- 
ties, — " the book of Samuel the seer, the book of Nathan 
the prophet, and the book of Gad the seer ; " i Chroni- 
cles xxix. 29. He gives three authorities for the life of 
Solomon, — " the book of Nathan the prophet, and the 
prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo 
the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat." For the 
reign of Rehoboam he refers to the " book of Shemaiah 
the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies." 
"The acts of Abijah and his ways and his sayings are 
written in the story of the prophet Iddo." He gives for 
his authority in the reign of Asa, " the book of the kings 
of Israel and Judah"; and for the reign of Jehoshaphat, 
" the book of Jehu the son of Hanani," who is mentioned 
in the books of the kings of Israel ; and for Joash's reign, 
" the story of the book of the Kings." And of " the rest 
of the acts of Amaziah," he asks, " Are they not written 
in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? " Of the 



THE BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. 113 

reign of Uzziah he says, " The rest of the acts of Uzziah, 
first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, 
write." His authority for the reign of Jotham is " the 
book of the kings of Israel and Judah ; " and for the 
reign of Ahaz he appeals to " the book of the kings of 
Judah and Israel." His authority for the reign of Heze- 
kiah is " the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, 
and the book of the kings of Israel and Judah ; " and for 
that of Manasseh, " the book of the kings of Israel " and 
" the sayings of the seers." He relies upon " the book of 
the kings of Israel and Judah " for the story of the reign of 
Josiah. The same book contains the acts of Jehoiakim. 

Very few writers of history are more frank and full in 
giving their authorities. The value of these authorities 
must be determined by the contents of the book ; and, 
judging by these, they were in a dilapidated, disconnected 
state, such as we should naturally expect after all the 
hazards of the captivity. In making use of his au- 
thorities the writer seems to be at a loss how to arrange 
the fragmentary documents which are in his hands; 
and it is evident enough that he often, fails. His au- 
thorities were themselves probably not always accurate. 
There is no evidence that the original authors were super- 
naturally kept from all mistakes. At any rate the books, 
as they have come into our hands, are often erroneous in 
their statements, if we can rely upon the contemporaneous 
history with which we compare them. They also disagree 
with the books of the Kings in numerous places, which I 
need not take space to cite. The reader of the Bible 



114 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

who has any interest in the subject may compare the two 
works and judge for himself. These discrepancies lead 
to the question of the authenticity of the work. How far 
can we rely upon its statements ? 

Section III. — Authenticity. 

Nothing whatever is known of the author, and we are 
thus cut off from all ground of judging of the historical 
reliableness of the work which might be obtained did we 
know him. Various guesses have been made, but they 
are of no value ; they are mere guesses. It is very clear 
that implicit reliance cannot be placed upon either the 
genealogies or the numbers. The immense armies, the 
vast number of chariots and horses, the multitudes of 
cattle and sheep and lambs, are undoubtedly exaggerations, 
or errors of copyists. But there is no reason to doubt the 
general accuracy of the description of the course of events 
and of the characterization of the kings and priests. 

Section IV. — Age. 

These books were not written till near the close or after 
the close of the captivity, as the language shows. It 
abounds in Chaldaisms, as do Ezra and Nehemiah, and 
the style is much less pure than that of the Kings. Prob- 
ably the Chronicles were written before the Book of Ezra ; 
possibly not. The last two verses of Chronicles contain a 
reference to the dream of Cyrus that the Jewish captives 
should be permitted to return to their own land. The 
first two verses of Ezra are in the same words. It has 



THE BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES. 115 

been thought by some writers that the Chronicles must 
have been written as late as the time of Alexander, 
330 b. c, because the genealogy of the posterity of Ze- 
rubbabel is carried down to his time in 1 Chronicles iii. 
19-24. But such an addition might have been made by 
a later copyist respecting the royal family as a marginal 
note, which afterwards found its way into the text ; or it 
might have been introduced into the text by the scholiast. 
No harm would be thought to be done by such an addi- 
tion to one's own private copy. At all events, the bare 
presence of these names is not a sufficient reason for 
bringing down the date of the book itself to so late a 
period. 

Section V. — Inspiration. 

After what has been said, it is not necessary to add that 
there is not a particle of evidence that the writer had any 
special illumination or guidance either in selecting the 
materials of which this work is composed, or in arranging 
them. It is the production of a man subject to all the 
errors of any other man. He is not a skilful writer, and 
his wisdom in the selection of his materials may sometimes 
be challenged. Such discoveries as have been made in 
the exhumed cities in the valleys of the Euphrates and 
Tigris confirm the general accuracy of these books, as 
some recent critics have maintained. No person has ap- 
peared with authority to pronounce them infallible. Take 
them for what they claim to be, and what they are, and they 
are worthy the attention and confidence of the student. 



Il6 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE BOOK OF EZRA. 

Section I. — Contents. 

This book and that of Nehemiah were once reckoned 
but one book, and there seems to be no good reason for 
making two books of them now. The Book of Ezra gives 
an account of affairs from the release and return from 
captivity under Zerubbabel and his administration of the 
government till the dedication of the new temple, 530 B.C. 
Then we have an account of the return under Ezra, and 
his administration till the return under Nehemiah, of which 
we read in the book bearing his name. As well might 
Ezra's administration have made a book as Nehemiah's ; 
and so of Zerubbabel's administration. But the history, 
or rather a very few incidents in the history of this period 
from the captivity, 588 b. c, to the close of Nehemiah's 
administration, b. c. 434, are divided, in our Bible, into 
two books, and I shall so treat them. 

From the destruction of Jerusalem to the return under 
Zerubbabel was fifty-two years, not seventy years, and this 
was the period of the captivity. Zerubbabel's adminis- 
tration covers a period of six years in chapters i.-vi. 
Eighty years afterwards, about 45 6 b. c, Ezra returned 
with his company, as described in chapters vii.-x. 



THE BOOK OF EZRA. 1 17 

Section II. — Author and Language. 

The language in which this book is written abounds in 
Chaldaisms, and chapters iv. 8-vi. 10, and vii. 12-26 are 
written in pure Chaldee. The author of the book is not 
known. Rather I should say the compiler is not known. 
The account of Zerubbabel's return and administration is 
given in the third person, and the letters of the Persian 
king profess to be copies. But in the account of the re- 
turn and administration of Ezra the first person is used, as 
if either Ezra himself wrote the events of his administra- 
tion as we have them here, or a compiler made very 
copious extracts from a larger work which Ezra wrote. 
Most probably the latter is the true view to be taken. 

Section III. — Authenticity and Inspiration. 

The authenticity of the book cannot reasonably be 
doubted. The writer or compiler evidently had his 
authorities before him, and many of the events recorded 
transpired within his memory. There is no ground to 
suppose that he did not use his materials wisely, or that 
he was not free from vitiating bias. There is no evidence 
of any special divine guidance either in the selection 
or arrangement of his materials ; the anonymous author 
claims no divine assistance, nor did he need any, nor has 
any writer in the Bible claimed it for him. The book has 
no other claim to our confidence than what the intelli- 
gence and integrity of the writer give to it. Its inspiration 



Il8 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

in any sense of the word is an invention of men, and not 
a claim or need of the writer. 

Nor is there any foundation for the opinion affirmed 
with great confidence by the Dutch school of critics and 
their followers in this country, that Ezra composed the 
most if not the whole of the ritual now found in Exodus 
and Leviticus. Not the remotest hint of any such work 
of his is found in this book or in Nehemiah. He was a 
priest well instructed in the law of Moses, and he in- 
structed the people in it when he returned. He may 
have arranged the sections of the law which the exposures 
of the captivity had disarranged, and he may have ex- 
plained obsolete words and customs ; but there is not a 
shadow of proof that he introduced one new act into the 
Mosaic law, or one new ceremony into the ritual. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 

Section I. — Contents. 

This book covers a period of thirty-one years, 444- 
412 B.C., and may be divided into three parts. 1. The 
first part treats of the fortification of Jerusalem, chapters 
i.-vii., and is written in the first person, as if from the pen 
of Nehemiah. 2. The second part gives an account of 
the religious solemnities and the reading of the Law, 



THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 119 

conducted by Ezra, viii.-x. This is written in the third 
person, and is probably from the pen of the compiler. 
3. The third part contains lists of the different orders of 
temple officials, and the return to monogamy, chapters 
xi.-xiii. 

Section II. — Language, Age, and Author. 

The language in which the book is written is like that 
of Ezra; and chapter vii. 6-73 is in pure Chaldee. 

The author or compiler of the book is unknown. He 
probably lived not long after the time of Nehemiah, if 
Nehemiah himself was not the author. There is nothing 
in either the language or contents of the book to forbid it. 
Still, the only safe position to take is that the author is 
unknown. That he intended to state correctly the few 
incidents which he has recorded we have no reason to 
question. There is no indication of any such bias as 
to awaken suspicion of his accuracy, nor does he lack 
ability to correctly copy or abridge the materials he has 
in his hands. There are no indications of any great 
skill in literary composition in this book any more than 
in Ezra ; nor is there any evidence that it was written at 
as late a period as that of Alexander the Great, — about 
325 B.C. 

Section III. — Inspiration. 

The author or compiler, whoever he was, makes no 
claim to any supernatural aid in either the selection or 



120 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

arrangement of the facts he has recorded or in the opin- 
ions expressed respecting them. Inspiration in the usual 
sense of that word is not claimed by either the author 
of the book or by any other writer for him in the Bible. 
As respects this book, all claim to inspiration is without 
foundation, and as in the case of Ezra is a mere human 
assumption. The work is to be judged, both as to its 
contents and historical value, as all other books are. The 
events narrated are full of interest, and speak well for the 
patriotism and consecration of the people, 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 

Section I. — Contents. 

This book covers but a very short period of time dur- 
ing the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus, the Grecian 
Xerxes, contemporaneous with Zerubbabel or Ezra. The 
book reads very much like a romance founded upon cer- 
tain facts in the condition of the Jews during that period. 
It is divided into two parts. The first part relates the 
promotion of Esther, chapters i.-ii. ; the second part 
gives an account of Hainan's intrigues and overthrow, 
chapters iii.-x. 



THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 121 



Section II. — Object and Author, 

The object of the book appears to be to illustrate God's 
care of his people when in most imminent peril, and how 
those who trust in him will be delivered. The author is 
-unknown; and as far as the time of its composition is con- 
cerned, it appears to have been written in a period of ex- 
treme national peril, as was the Book of Daniel. Several 
such periods of peril occurred after the time of Nehemiah, 
but it is not possible to determine with any certainty to 
which of these periods this book should be referred. It 
may have been written as late as the time of Antiochus 
Epiphanes (180-170 b. c), or it may have been written at 
some earlier period. The language of the book will not 
settle the question. 

The whole tone of the book is that of an historical ro- 
mance. Most extraordinary things are narrated, some of 
which seem incredible. Very marvellous things, however, 
have happened in the history of the world in both ancient 
and modern times. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew is 
almost as incredible as the related massacre of the Per- 
sians by the Jews. Still, looking at the subject in every 
light, and weighing all the probabilities, I cannot but 
think that the work is an historical romance, like Jonah 
and Daniel, and some of the contemporaneous so-called 
apocryphal books, as Judith, Bel and the Dragon, and the 
story of Susannah ; or in modern times "Evangeline " and 
" Gertrude of Wyoming." Could it be shown that super- 



122 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

natural aid was rendered to the writer, it would not prove 
that the book, as it has come into our hands, is authentic 
history, for it is plain that there are grave errors in it 
which defy belief. But there is no evidence of any kind 
whatever to show that the writer was inspired in any 
degree. All claims of this kind put forth for the book 
are the merest presumptions, and tend to disparage it. 

There is one quite remarkable characteristic of this work 
which demands notice in view of recent theories of criti- 
cism and methods of applying them. I refer here to 
the theory that in the early age of the Jewish nation 
fetichism and polytheism abounded, and that a knowledge 
of one God was not obtained till late in the history of the 
nation, about 800 b. c, in the time of the prophet Hosea, 
and that the Pentateuch must have been written as late as 
his time and even later, because it insists upon the exist- 
ence and worship of only one God. If this theory is true, 
why would it not follow that the Book of Esther was written 
before there was knowledge of any God, since the name 
of God is not used in the whole book, nor is there any 
recognition of divine aid in the great deliverance wrought 
for the Jews ? But we know that this book was composed 
after the return from the captivity. The language in 
which it is composed shows it. But the language of the 
Pentateuch as certainly shows that it could not have been 
written in the age of Amos and Hosea. Its " archaisms " 
remit it to an age as remote from them in antiquity as the 
Chaldaisms of Esther remit this book to an age remote 
from the prophets in modern times. All a priori theories 



CONCLUSION. 123 

of the origin and progress of religion are to be discarded 
in an inquiry of this kind, and the inexorable facts of 
history are to be accepted as the only valid evidence of 
the belief and rituals of peoples. Where these fail us it 
is better to confess our ignorance than wander in the 
bewildering mazes of theories which only mislead and 
deceive. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONCLUSION. 

I have now said all that it is necessary to say respecting 
the historical books, which give a very brief epitome, mere 
fragments, of the history of the Jewish nation from the 
death of Moses till about a century and a half after the 
return from the captivity, a period of about one thousand 
or eight hundred years, according as we choose our chrono- 
logical guide. We find that we do not know the author 
of even one of these twelve books ; that in historical value 
they differ very much (the first half of the Book of Joshua, 
including some incidents of the conquest, and the whole 
of the Book of Judges appear to record traditions based 
upon old songs and not upon authentic documents) ; that 
the last half of the Book of Joshua, giving an account of 
the division of the land, appears to be founded upon rec- 
ords made at the time, or upon such monuments and 
traditions as were deemed reliable ; that the two books 



124 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

of Samuel appear to be derived from good authority, 
though the authorities are not named ; that the two books 
of the Kings and the two books of Chronicles give their 
authorities, and that there is no reason to suppose that the 
authors did not use them judiciously and without bias, or 
that their accounts are not substantially correct ; that the 
same is true of the brief fragments preserved in Ezra and 
Nehemiah; that the authors of these books claim no 
divine aid in selecting the incidents of which the books 
are composed, or in arranging them ; that there is nothing 
in the books requiring such aid or guidance ; that no writer 
in the Bible claims for them any inspiration of any kind 
or in any degree, nor does their work indicate any such 
inspiration ; that the Book of Esther is probably an histori- 
cal romance based upon historical traditions, and written 
in some dark period of Jewish history to inspire patience 
and faith in the people, and give them assurance that 
God would deliver them as he had done in ancient times ; 
and finally, that there is no reason why these books should 
be studied in a different spirit or under different rules from 
those w T hich guide us in the study of any other religious 
books of ancient times. 

This is said of the literature of these books. There 
are persons mentioned in them who are said to claim to 
speak by divine authority, and whose sayings are recorded 
more or less accurately. Whether these writers and 
speakers used only the language of devotion, of piety, of 
assurance, as distinguished from that of philosophy, with- 
out claiming special divine guidance, or whether they were 



CONCLUSION. 125 

mistaken in their claim on the supposition that they made 
one, is a question for the critic to decide, and does not 
belong to the subject of the historical inquirer, whose 
object is simply to learn the age and author of a work, and 
the authenticity of the record. 

The religious aspects of these books are remitted to the 
province of the critic and interpreter, and there I leave 
them. 



PART V. 

THE POETICAL BOOKS. 



PART V. 

THE POETICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 

Section I. — Books. 

The whole number of poetical books is twenty-two, and 
they may be divided into the following classes : i . The 
prophetical books, sixteen in number ; namely, Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, 
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, 
Malachi. 2. The dramatic, — Job and Solomon's Song. 
3. The lyric, — Psalms. 4. The didactic, — Proverbs. 
5. The philosophic, — Ecclesiastes. 6. The elegiac, — 
Lamentations. In the Hebrew Bible only Daniel, Job, 
Proverbs, Solomon's Song, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes 
are placed after the Book of Psalms, and they are not 
arranged in the order of time in which they were written. 
Why the present order was adopted, it is not easy to see ; 
nor does there appear to be any clew to the reason of its 
adoption. 

9 



130 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 



Section II. — Early Fragments. 

" It is a phenomenon which is universally observed in 
the literatures of all nations, that the earliest form in which 
the thoughts and feelings of a people find utterance is 
poetic." And of poetry the lyric is the earliest, according 
to Ewald. He says, " It is the daughter of the moment, 
the swift rising of powerful feelings, of deep stirrings and 
fiery emotions of the soul." Fragments of this early 
poetry we have found in the historical books. The 
earliest of them is what Herder calls the " Sword Song " 
of Lamech, Genesis iv. 23, 24. Another fragment, the 
"Curse of Canaan," is found in Genesis ix. 25, 26. The 
dying address of Jacob (Genesis xlix. 1-3 7) is longer; 
so also is the song of Moses at the Red Sea, Exodus 
xv. 1-19. Another fragment, "The Song of the Well," 
is found in Numbers xxi. 17, 18 ; and a still longer frag- 
ment from "The Victory at Heshbon," Numbers xxi. 
27-32. The predictions of Balaam are still longer, in the 
23d and 24th chapters of Numbers, and the last words 
of Moses, in Deuteronomy xxxii., xxxiii. These are the 
earliest specimens we have of the poetry of the Hebrews, 
and they show no small degree of culture among the 
people at this early age, and the strength of the tendency 
to put into rhythm what was deeply impressive. As poetry 
has its source in the emotional nature, not in the intellec- 
tual, and takes form as imagination, not as reason directs, 
its chief agency is to express and awaken feeling, not to 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 131 

give instruction. Yet some poetry is didactic, as that of 
the Book of Proverbs ; or philosophical, as that of the 
Book of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job. Exultation is 
expressed in Psalm xcviii. ; trust, in Psalm xxiii. ; grief, in 
vi. and xxii. ; bereavement, in 2 Samuel i. 1 7-2 7 ; triumph, 
in Exodus xv. ; description, in Psalms civ., cv. ; indigna- 
tion, in Psalm lxix. ; revenge, in Psalms cix., xxxv. 

As poems are now written for special occasions, to be 
either read or sung, or both, so among the Hebrews poems 
were composed for special occasions. 

We find, as we should expect, that most of those 
which have been preserved were of a directly religious 
character, and were so general in their expressions that 
they could be used on various occasions. The 24th 
Psalm was sung when the ark was conveyed from the 
house of Obed-Edom to Mount Zion. The social 
Hebrew lyric may be found in Psalm cxxxiii. ; the 
patriotic, in Psalms cviii., cxi., cxiv. ; the hymeneal, in 
Psalm xlv. 



Section III . — Form or Structure of Hebrew Poetry. 

It is time to say something of the form or structure of 
Hebrew poetry, especially since our translators have made 
no attempt in any manner, either by breaking the lines or 
commencing each line of the poetry with a capital letter, 
to indicate that it is poetry, and not prose. The common 
reader discovers, if he discovers at all, that he is reading 
poetry, only by a more imaginative and rhythmical style of 



132 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

writing than is commonly used in prose. Poetry and prose 
are printed alike in our Bibles. 1 

In the Hebrew language there are poetic words which 
are used only in poetry, as there are in the English lan- 
guage; as, "vale" for "valley," "eve" for "evening," 
"morn" for "morning," "mead" for "meadow," and 
others which the reader will readily call to mind. But as 
I am not writing for Hebrew scholars, I shall not collect 
a list of words which are peculiar to Hebrew poetry, but 
shall confine myself to such characteristics of it as an 
English reader can easily appreciate. 

There is no such thing as rhyme in Hebrew poetry, 
as there is in English and European poetry. The lines 
do not terminate in syllables of the same sound either 
consecutively or alternately. Nor are the lines in He- 
brew poetry composed of the same number of syllables ; 
some lines are longer than others. Yet it may be 
stated as a general rule that poems of exultation are 
composed in shorter lines than those of grief or peni- 
tence. But though the lines do not have rhyme, they 
have rhythm, a gliding kind of movement, like English 
poetry. Yet they cannot be scanned. What especially 
characterizes Hebrew poetry, is a rhythm of thought, 
the same thought or idea being repeated in another 
form of words. This rhythm of thought is called 
parallelism ; and these parallelisms are divided into 
several classes, each of which is adapted to the re- 

1 In the Revised Version, which has just been published (June, 1885), the 
poetical extracts and books, except the Prophets, are printed as poetry. 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 33 

sponsive style of singing among the Hebrews. I will 
now proceed to illustrate them. 

1. Synonymous Parallelism. In this the thought of 
the first line is repeated in the second in another form, 
as in Psalm cxiv. : — 

" When Israel went out of Egypt, 
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 

Judah was his sanctuary 
And Israel his dominion. 

The sea saw it and fled, 
Jordan was driven back." 

The reader here plainly discovers the parallelism of the 
thought in the departure from Egypt in the first couplet, 
the care of the Lord in the second, and the refluence 
of the waters in the third, which gives a kind of swing 
or natural vibration or intonation in reading. Other ex- 
amples of this kind of parallelism in couplets are found, 
especially in Psalm cxiv., and in the first chapters of the 
Proverbs. 

Alternate parallel couplets are sometimes found, as in 
Psalm ciii. 11, 12 : — 

" For as the heaven is high above the earth, 
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 
As far as the east is from the west, 
So far hath he removed our transgressions from us." 

It will be observed that the first and third lines, and the 
second and fourth, are the real parallels of thought. 
Parallel triplets are found, where the thought of the 



134 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

first line is carried through three lines ; as in Psalm lxxvii. 
16-19 : — 

" The waters saw thee, O God ! 

The waters saw thee and feared, 
And the deep trembled. 

The clouds poured out water, 
The skies sent forth thunder, 
And thine arrows flew. 

Thy thunder roared in the whirlwind j 
Thy lightning illumined the world ; 
The earth trembled and shook. 

Thy way was through the sea, 
And thy path through great waters ; 
And thy footsteps could not be found." 

Parallel triplets are also found in Job iii. 4, 5, 9. 
Sometimes the thought is carried through four lines, 
and it may then be called a quartet ; as Isaiah i. 3 : — 

" The ox knoweth his owner, 
And the ass his master's crib; 
But Israel doth not know, 
My people do not consider." 

This extended repetition of the thought in another form 
appears to be done for emphasis, or for aiding the mem- 
ory; as Psalm ciii. n, 12. 

2. Another kind of parallelism is called antithetic. It 
is so called because the thought expressed in the second 
line of the couplet is the opposite of that expressed in the 
first line. The Book of Proverbs abounds with these 
antithetic couplets, chapters x.-xv. : — 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 135 

" A wise son maketh a glad father, 
But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. 

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, 
But righteousness delivereth from death. 

A false balance is abomination to the Lord, 
But a. just weight is his delight." 

The antithesis is evident at sight, and the couplets need 
no explanation. 

3. Another class of parallelisms is called synthetic. 
They are composed of cumulative expressions, often rising 
in thought from line to line, as Psalm cxlviii. 7-13 : — 

" Praise the Lord from the earth, 
Ye dragons, and all deeps ; 
Fire and hail, snow and vapor, 
Stormy wind fulfilling his word ; 
Mountains and all hills, 
Fruitful trees and all cedars; 
Beasts and all cattle, 
Creeping things and flying fowl ; 
Kings of the earth and all people, 
Princes and all judges of the earth ; 
Both young men and maidens, 
Old men and children, 
Let them praise the name of the Lord." 

Here the gradual but not regular ascent from inanimate 
nature up to man, and the greatest of men, even " kings " 
and " princes," is obvious. 

This kind of parallelism is also illustrated in Psalm cl., 
where the musical instruments spoken of increase in size 
and power. 



136 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

4. Another style of poetry is called " Alphabetical " or 
Acrostic, because each couplet or verse begins with a new 
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning with the first 
letter and going on in regular order till the last. And as 
there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, there 
are twenty-two verses of two lines each in an acrostic 
poem, if all the letters of the alphabet are employed. 
There are seven alphabetic or acrostic psalms, — the xxv., 
xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxix., cxlv. Proverbs xxxi. 10-31 
and the first four chapters of the Book of Lamentations 
are also acrostic poems. The construction of Psalm cxix. 
is highly artificial, and demands special notice here. The 
reader will observe that the whole psalm is divided into 
portions of eight verses each, and that these divisions are 
preceded by a word which appears to have no meaning 
and no relation to the section which it precedes ; as Aleph 
before the first section of eight verses, Beth before the sec- 
ond, Gimel before the third, and so on before each of the 
twenty-two sections, a new word appears. Now, Aleph is 
the name of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and 
each of the eight verses of this section begins with Aleph 
(a), the first letter of the alphabet. Beth is the name 
of the second letter of the alphabet, and each of the 
eight verses in this section begins with Beth (J?), the sec- 
ond letter. And so on with all the rest of the sections, 
twenty-two in number, as there are twenty-two letters in 
the Hebrew alphabet ; and as each letter is used eight 
times, there are eight times twenty-two verses in the 
psalm, or one hundred and seventy-six. This is a very 






OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 37 

artificial composition, revealing more patience than poetic 
genius or inspiration in the writer. 

The alphabetic chapters in Lamentations are peculiar, 
and require a word of explanation. In the first and sec- 
ond chapters a letter of the alphabet begins each verse 
in their order till each of the twenty-two letters has been 
used, making a poem, or chapter, of twenty-two verses ; 
but in the third chapter the letter Aleph (or d) begins 
each of the first three verses, the letter Beth (or b) each 
of the next three verses, and so on through the alphabet, 
each of the twenty-two letters being used three times, and 
therefore making a poem, or chapter, of sixty-six verses. 
The fourth chapter, like the first and second, begins each 
verse with a letter of the alphabet corresponding in num- 
ber with the verse. Though the fifth chapter contains 
twenty-two verses, it is not alphabetic. It would have 
been better if these chapters had been versed as the other 
three alphabetic chapters are, all the Aleph lines in one 
verse, and all the Beth lines in another verse, making 
twenty-two large verses instead of sixty-six small ones. 
Then all these chapters would have shown triplets in each 



" How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud of 
his anger, 
And cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, 
And remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger ! " 

But this is only the skeleton, the dry bones of Hebrew 
poetry. Its sinews and nerves and life, its spirit, its 
imagery, and its sources, are waiting for presentation. 



138 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 



Section IV. — The Subjects of Hebrew Poetry. 

These, like those of all nations, are very various and 
very comprehensive. But as the Hebrews were eminently 
a religious people, more care was taken to preserve their 
religious poetry than any other kind, and hence we have 
but few specimens of their war-songs, historical poems, 
dramatic pieces, and marriage hymns. God and his 
attributes, Nature and its scenery, constitute the substance 
of Hebrew lyric poetry. In describing these the poet 
rises to his loftiest strains, and bears the reader through 
the pure ethers of the higher spheres. 

1. In Job xxvi. the power of God is described in un- 
paralleled loftiness of thought : — 



Before him the shades tremble, 

Beneath, the waters and their habitation. 

The underworld is naked before him, 

And destruction is without a covering. 

He stretcheth out the north over empty space, 

And hangeth the earth upon nothing. 

The pillars of heaven tremble 

And are confounded at his rebuke. 

By his power he stilleth the sea, 

Yea, by his wisdom he smiteth its pride. 

By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens ; 

His hand hath formed the fleeing serpent. 

Lo ! these are but the borders of his works ; 

How faint the whisper we have heard of him ! 

But the thunder of his power who can understand? 1 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 39 
How graphic such lines as these : — 

" He looketh upon the earth and it trembleth. 
He toucheth the hills and they smoke." — Ps. civ. 32. 

" He spake, and it was done ; 
He commanded, and it stood fast." — Ps. xxxiii. 9. 

2. The knowledge of God is thus described in Psalm 
cxxxix. : — 

" O Lord ! thou hast searched me and known me ! 
Thou understandest my thoughts from afar. 
For before the word is upon my tongue, 
Behold, O Lord ! thou knowest it altogether ! 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me." 

3. The omnipresence of God is described in the same 
psalm : — 

" If I ascend into heaven, thou art there ! 
If I make my bed in the underworld, behold thou art there ! 
If I take the wings of the morning 
And dwell in the remotest parts of the sea, 
Even there shall thy hand lead me, 
And thy right hand shall hold me. 
If I say, ' Surely the darkness shall cover me,' 
Even the night shall be light about me. 
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee ! " 

4. The eternity of God is thus described in Psalm xc. : 

" Before the mountains were brought forth, 
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God ! 
For a thousand years are, in thy sight, 
As yesterday when it is past, 
And as a watch in the night." 



140 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

5. How admirably the goodness, the tenderness, the 
mercifulness of God are painted in Psalms cxxi., ciii., 

xxiii. : — 

" He will not suffer thy foot to stumble ; 
The Lord is thy guardian ; 
The Lord is thy shade at thy right hand. 
The sun shall not smite thee by day, 
Nor the moon by night. 
The Lord will preserve thee from all evil. 
The Lord will preserve thee when thou goest out 
And when thou comest in. 

Like as a father pitieth his children, 

So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 

He hath not dealt with us according to our sins, 

Nor requited us according to our iniquities. 

As high as the heavens are above the earth, 

So great is his mercy to them that fear him. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; 
He leadeth me beside the still waters ; 
When I walk through the valley of death-like shade 
I fear no evil, for thou art with me. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of 
my life." 

6. The trust, the confide?ice of the filial soul finds fit 
utterance in Psalms xlvi., xxiii. : — 

" God is our refuge and strength ; 
An ever present help in trouble. 

Therefore will we not fear though the earth be changed ; 
Though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea ; 
Though its waters roar and be troubled, 
And the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 141 

7. The exultation of a joyful soul finds expression in 
Psalm ciii. : — 

" Bless the Lord, O my soul ! 
And all that is within me, bless his holy name ! 
Bless the Lord, O my soul ! 
And forget not all his benefits ! 
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, 
Who healeth all thy diseases ; 
Who redeemeth thy life from the grave ; 
Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies ; 
Who satisfieth thine old age with good, 
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." 

8. Aspiration rises to a worthy height in Psalm xlii. : — 

" As the hart panteth for the water-brooks, 
So panteth my soul for thee, O God ! 
My soul thirsteth for God, the living God. 
When shall I come and appear before God ? 

Oh, send forth thy light and thy truth, 
Let them guide me ; 
Let them lead me to thy holy mountain, 
And to thy dwelling-place." 

9. Where can words be found more expressive of 
penitence than in Psalm li.? — 

" Be gracious unto me, O God ! according to thy loving kindness ; 
According to the greatness of thy mercy blot out my transgres- 
sions ! 
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 
And cleanse me from my sin ! 
For I acknowledge my transgressions, 
And my sin is ever before me. 
Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned, 
And in thy sight have done evil. . . . 



142 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Hide thy face from my sins, 

And blot out all my iniquities ! 

Create within me a clean heart, O God ! 

Renew within me a steadfast spirit ! 

Cast me not away from thy presence, 

And take not thy holy spirit from me ! 

Restore to me the joy of thy protection ! " 

io. For passionate expressions of revenge, where can 
more bitter be found than in Psalm cix. 6-13 ? And the 
rest of the psalm will enlarge even this vocabulary for 
cursing : — 

" Set thou a wicked man over him, 
And let an adversary stand at his right hand ! 
When he is judged may he be condemned, 
And may his prayer be a crime ! 
May his days be few, 
And another take his office ! 
May his children be fatherless, 
And his wife a widow ! 

May his children be vagabonds and beggars, 
And from their ruined dwellings seek their bread ! 
May there be none to show him compassion, 
And none to pity his fatherless children ! 
May his posterity be cut off ; 
In the next generation may his name be blotted out ! " 

11. Where can be found fitter or warmer expressions of 
patriotism than are found in Psalms cxxii., cxxxvii. ? — 

" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ! 
May they prosper who love thee 1 
Peace be within thy walls, 
And prosperity within thy palaces 1 
For my brethren and companion's sake will I say 
Peace be within thee 1 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 43 

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 

Let my right hand forget her cunning I 

If I do not remember thee, 

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; 

If I prefer not Jerusalem to my chief joy ! " 

Section V. — The Sources of the Imagery which abounds 
in the Hebrew Poetry. 

These are found most abundantly in Nature, in the 
vicissitudes of day and night, light and darkness, sunshine 
and storm, mountain and valley, seas and streams, har- 
vests and fruits, forests and fields, plenty and famine, 
drought and deluge, thunder, lightning, and hail, snow 
and ice, cold and heat. Nor from sources in Nature only 
is this most impressive imagery drawn, but from Life, — 
from labors, from diseases, from dress both of people and 
priests, from temple and sacrifice, from animals wild 
and tame, fierce and gentle, timid and courageous, plants 
and planets, fish and fowl, sparrow and eagle ; indeed, all 
arts and all articles, all scenes and sciences, were made 
tributary by these Hebrew poets to illustrate, impress, and 
adorn the subjects of their poems. 

The nature of this work forbids the introduction of more 
than a very few of these illustrations. The reader is re- 
ferred to the poetry itself, which glows in every line with 
imagery, often of surpassing beauty, as the firmament 
glows with stars, and which cannot be described, but must 
be seen. I will refer to some examples of them. 

1. I will first call attention to some of the images 
derived from Nature which illustrate and impress the 



144 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

thought of the Hebrew poets. Light and Darkness are 
very frequently used as illustrative of prosperity and adver- 
sity, of knowledge and ignorance. 

a. Isaiah very often uses these words when he would 
illustrate and impress upon the people the greatness of 
their calamity or the abundance of their prosperity. 
Describing the prosperity of the people after their de- 
liverance from their oppressors, he exclaims : — ■ 

" Then shall the light of the moon be as the light of the sun, 
And the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, 
As the light of seven days. 

The sun shall no more go down, 

Neither shall the moon be hid ; 

For Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light, 

And the days of thy mourning shall be ended ! 

The people that dwelt in darkness behold a great light, 

And they who dwelt in the land of death-shade, 

Upon them a light shineth." — Isaiah xxx. 26 ; lx. 20 ; ix. 2. 

And the Psalmist exclaims (Psalm xcvii. 11) : — 

" Light is sown for the righteous, 
And joy for the upright in heart." 

b. In describing the adversity which had befallen his 
nation, Isaiah mournfully cries as he looks around him : — 

" Behold darkness and sorrow, 
And the light is darkened. 

. . . Look to the earth, 
Behold distress and darkness and fearful darkness. 

All the host of heaven shall melt away. . . . 

For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, 

Shall not give their light." 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 45 

The prophet Amos (v. 20) exclaims, as he beholds the 
impending punishment of the nation : — 

" The day of Jehovah shall be darkness and not light : 
Even thick darkness, and no brightness in it." 

Job (xix. 8), in the extremity of his suffering, cries out : 
" He hath set darkness in my path." 

c. As significant of knowledge and ignorance, light and 
darkness are very frequently used by the poets. Says 
Isaiah (v. 20) : — 

" Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil ; 
That put darkness for light, and light for darkness." 

And the Psalmist says of his enemies (lxxxv. 5) : — 

" They are without knowledge . . . 
They walk in darkness." 

The Preacher, in Ecclesiastes ii. 13, says : — 

" I saw indeed that wisdom excelleth folly 
As far as light excelleth darkness. 
The wise man's eyes are in his head, 
But the fool walketh in darkness." 

2. Blessings and calamities of both a personal and 
national character are described by imagery derived from 
streams, deluges, and storms, rains and dews. 

Job (vi. 15-20) vividly illustrates the character of his false 
friends by likening them to one of the deceptive streams 
in a desert so common in Eastern countries : — 

" To the afflicted kindness should be shown by a friend, 
But my brethren are faithless like a brook, 
Like streams of the valley ; 
As soon as they flow forth they vanish ; 
10 



146 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

When the heat cometh they are dried up in their channels. 

The caravans turn aside to them on their way, 

They go up into the desert and perish. 

They are ashamed that they have relied on them. 

They come to their place and are confounded." 

In chapter xxvii. he describes the sudden overthrow 
of the rich by flood and storm as follows : — 

" The rich man lieth down and is not buried [is swept away], 
In the twinkling of an eye he is no more. 
Terrors pursue him like a flood ; 
A tempest stealeth him away in the night, 
The east wind carrieth him away and he perisheth." 

The prophet Joel (iii. 18), exulting in the prosperity 
which should come upon the land in the latter days, 
exclaims : — 

K In that day shall the mountains drop down new wine, 
And the hills shall flow with milk, 
And all the streams of Judah shall flow water. 
A fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, 
That shall water the valley of Shittim." 

The poets speak of blessings as dew and rain, Deuter- 
onomy xxxii. 2 : — 

" My teaching shall drop as the rain, 
My speech shall distil as the dew, 
As the small rain upon the tender herb, 
As the showers upon the grass." 

Jehovah is represented as saying (Hosea xiv. 5) : — 

" I will be as the dew to Israel ; 
He shall blossom as the lily." 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 47 
The Psalmist, describing God's goodness (lxxii. 6), says : 

" He shall be like rain descending upon the mown field, 
Like showers which water the earth." 

3. A few examples must suffice for the imagery drawn 
from mountains and plains, — Lebanon, Carmel, Hermon, 
and Sharon. 

Isaiah (xxix. 17), in speaking of the great prosperity 
which would come to the nation, describes it thus : — 

" Lebanon shall be changed into a fruitful field, 
And the [now] fruitful field be esteemed [only as] a forest [so fer- 
tile will the land become]." 

Of calamity he says (xxxiii. 9) : — 

" The land mourneth and languisheth, 
Lebanon is put to shame and withereth away, 
Sharon is a desert, 
Bashan and Carmel are stripped of their leaves." 

What imagery could express prosperity and joy more 
vividly than this? Isaiah xxxv. 1, 2 : — 

" The wilderness and parched land shall be glad, 
And the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose; 
It shall blossom abundantly, and exult with singing, 
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, 
The beauty of Carmel and Sharon ; 
And they shall behold the glory of Jehovah, 
And the majesty of our God." 

The taunting language put into the mouth of Sen- 
nacherib by the poet when he reproached the Lord is 
remarkably expressive, Isaiah xxxvii. 24, 25 : — 



I48 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

" With the multitude of my chariots I have 
Ascended the heights of the mountains, 
Even to the extremest summits of Lebanon ; 
I have cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress-trees ; 
I have come to its utmost height, to its garden forest ; 
I have digged and drunk water, 
And with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt." 

4. The poets introduce imagery derived from forests, 
referring to its notable trees by name, as in Isaiah ii. 
12-17 : — 

" Jehovah of hosts holdeth a day of judgment 
Against all that is proud and lofty . . . 
Against all the cedars of Lebanon, 
Against all the oaks of Bashan . . . 
And the pride of man shall be humbled, 
And the loftiness of mortals brought low." 

In illustrating the excellence of the good and their 
prosperity, the Psalmist says (Psalm xcii. 12) : — 

" The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree, 
They shall grow like the cedars of Lebanon. 
Even in old age they bring forth fruit ; 
They are green and full of sap." 

The prophet Amos (ii. 9), describing the Amorites who 
had been destroyed by Israel, says : — 

" They were tall as the cedars, 
And as strong as the oaks ; 
I destroyed their fruit above 
And their roots beneath." 

The prophet Zechariah (xi. 1, 2), in describing the deso- 
lation of Judea and the destruction of the rulers and 
princes, exclaims : — 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 49 

" Open thy doors, O Lebanon, 
That a fire may devour thy cedars ! 
Howl, O fir-tree, for the cedar falleth ! 
For the lofty ones are destroyed ! 
Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, 
For the high forest is come down ! " 

5. The animal kingdom is introduced to give emphasis 
and vividness to the poet's descriptions, — the lion, the 
hind, the cattle of Bashan, wild and fierce. In Amos i. 1, 
the voice of Jehovah is compared to that of a lion : — 

" Jehovah will roar out of Zion, 
And utter his voice from Jerusalem ; 
The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, 
And the top of Carmel [God's garden] shall wither." 

The Psalmist, describing his agility (xviii.), says of the 

Lord : — 

" He made my feet like the hind's, 
And set me in my high places." 

And speaking of the activity of Naphtali, the poet ex- 
claims, Genesis xlix. 21: — 

" Naphtali is a hind let loose." 

And describing the vigor of Judah (Genesis xlix. 9), he 
says : — 

" Judah is a lion's whelp, 

He stooped down, he couched as a lion, 

As an old lion." 

God's favor to the good is expressed by the Psalmist 
(xci. 13) in such impassioned language as this : — 

" Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder ; 
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot." 



150 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

In the extremity of his peril among his enemies, he 
exclaims (Psalm xxii. 12, 21) : — 

" O be not far from me, for trouble is near. 
Many bulls surround me : 

The strong bulls of Bashan close me in on every side ; 
They open their mouths wide against me, 
Like a ravening and roaring lion." 

" Save me from the lion's mouth, 
Shield me from the horns of the buffaloes." 

Jeremiah (xlix. 16), prophesying the desolation of 
mountainous Edom, exclaims : — 

" Though thou set thy nest on high like the eagle, 
Thence will I bring thee down, saith Jehovah." 

Isaiah, describing the prosperity of the righteous (xl. 

31), says: — 

" They that trust in Jehovah shall renew their strength ; 
They shall mount up with wings like eagles." 

Job laments his loneliness and the desertion of his 
friends (xxx. 29), saying : — 

" I am become a brother to jackals, 
And a companion to ostriches ; " 

and this imagery is very expressive, for these creatures 
abode in desert places. 

The Psalmist, to express the same idea of loneliness, 
exclaims (cii. 6, 7) : — 

" I am like a pelican in the wilderness ; 
I am like an owl amid ruins ; 
I am like a sparrow [a lonely bird] upon the house-top." 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 151 

6. Much of the imagery of the Hebrew poets is drawn 
from the occupations of the people. These occupations 
were very varied, and the purpose of this work will not 
admit of a full illustration of this field, in which the 
poets gathered rich harvests. The work of the threshing- 
floor, the vintage and wine-press, the harvesting, the shep- 
herd, are the chief, and all that require special notice. 

a. The gatheri?ig of the harvest and fruit was an occa- 
sion of great rejoicing, but the field was left bare. The 
prophet Isaiah (xvii. 4, 5, 6, and xxiv. 3) introduces the 
desolation of a field which has just been reaped, to illus- 
trate the desolation of the conquered country : — 

" In that day shall the glory of Jacob sink away, 
And the fatness of his flesh become leanness, 

^And it shall be as when the harvest man gathereth grain, 
And reapeth the ears with his arm ; 

There shall be left in it only a gleaning as in the olive harvest, 
Two or three berries on the top of the highest bough, 
Four or five on the fruitful branches." 

Again : — 

"Thus shall it be in the land, 
In the midst of the people, 
As when the olive-tree has been shaken, 
As the gleaning when the vintage is ended." 

kb. The threshi?ig-floor is a very frequent and impressive 
image of the prophet-poets. This floor was made upon 
the top of a hill, so that whichever way the wind blew it 
would pass over it. A round spot of ground thirty or 
forty feet in diameter was made very hard by various pro- 
cesses, like the concrete pavement of our streets and side- 



152 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

walks, and on this the grain was thrown as it was drawn 
from the adjacent fields. Over the floor, covered with 
the grain, either cattle tied to each other were driven, or 
pieces of wood were drawn, made notched on the under 
side ; or cylinders, like those used to level ground, filled 
with blunt points, were drawn over the floor by cattle or 
horses, which broke the straw and tore out the kernel, so 
that in a little while all the grain would be threshed out, 
and the straw could then be raked off and another floor- 
ful put on to be threshed. After as much grain had been 
threshed out upon the floor as it was convenient to have 
lying there while threshing, the grain was winnowed. 
Taking advantage of the fresh breeze, the winnower with 
his large winnowing shovel (" fan ") tossed the grain into 
the air, and the chaff was blown away, sometimes to great 
distances over the country, filling the air far away, the 
grain meanwhile falling at the feet of the winnower. When 
all the contents of the threshing-floor had been winnowed, 
the clean grain was taken up and deposited in the 
granary, which was usually a chamber cut into the very 
dry limestone rock of the country. How startlingly 
impressive Isaiah is enabled to make the destruction of 
the enemies of his people by the image of the threshing- 
floor (xli. 15) : — 

" Behold, I will make thee [the nation] a threshing-wain, 
Sharp and new, with double edges ; 
Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, 
And make the hills as chaff. 

Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, 
And the whirlwind shall scatter them ! " 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 53 

Again (xvii. 13) : — 

" Jehovah rebuketh the nations and they flee away, 
Driven like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, 
Like straw before the whirlwind ! " 

The prophet Micah (iv. 12, 13) announces the total 
destruction of the enemies of his nation in such imagery 
as this : — 

" Jehovah gathereth them as sheaves into the threshing-floor. 
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion ! 
For I will make thy horns iron, 
And thy hoofs brass ; 
Thou shalt beat in pieces many nations." 

Plenty is also sometimes represented by the threshing- 
floor, 1 as in Joel ii. 24 : — 

" The threshing-floor shall be full of wheat, 
And the vats shall overflow with wine and oil." 

c. The vineyard, the vintage, and the wine-press furnish 
to the poets rich and impressive illustrations of calamity 
and prosperity. The vineyard was a choice spot of 
ground properly fenced and enriched, provided with trel- 
lises on which the vines could climb, and in it was a large 
tub built of wood, set on a frame, with a hole near the bot- 
tom through which the juice of the grapes when trodden 

1 Homer uses this same illustration when he would describe the destruction 
wrought by Achilles in the Trojan army, who was aroused to avenge the death of 
his friend Patroclus (Iliad, B. xx., close) : — 

"As when one yokes the broad-horned bullocks 
To trample out the white barley on the well levelled floor, 
And it easily becomes small beneath the feet of the bellowing oxen, 
So the solid-hoofed horses driven by magnanimous Achilles 
Trod down together both corpses and shields." 



154 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

would run out into earthen jars that were set to receive 
it. The grapes were gathered in baskets and borne on 
the heads of the laborers to the wine-vat and poured in, 
while those who trod them, destitute of clothing, save a 
narrow band about the loins and hips, standing in the vat 
and holding to cords attached to a piece of timber extend- 
ing over it, continually stepped up and down. Sometimes 
as many as three were able to tread in the same vat. Of 
course they were besprinkled with the spirting juice of the 
grapes as they were crushed, and looked as if stained with 
blood. The time of the vintage was a season of great 
rejoicing to the laborers, as well as to the owner of the 
vineyard. Prosperity and adversity, conquest and defeat, 
are illustrated by it. 

Jeremiah, speaking of the degeneracy of the nation in 
his day, says (ii. 21) : — 

"Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, 
Wholly a genuine seed ; 
How art thou changed to a degenerate shoot of a strange vine ? " 

Isaiah (xvi. 10) strives to describe the desolation of 
Moab by such imagery as this : — 



1 The lords of the nations break down the choicest shoots of the 

vine of Sibmah ; 
They reached even to Jazer, they wandered into the desert ; 
Her branches were spread out, they crossed the sea ! 



Gladness and joy are driven from the fruitful field,. 
And in the vineyards is no singing nor shouting ! 
The treaders tread out no wine in their vats ; 
I have made the vintage shouting to cease ! " 









OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 55 

Jehovah is represented under the most startling figure 
of a treader out of the grapes in the wine-vat. When the 
conquest of Edom is made by the people inspired to vic- 
tory by him (Isaiah lxiii.), the prophet cries : — 

" Who is this that cometh from Edom, 
In scarlet garments from Bozrah ? 
Wherefore is thine apparel red, 

And thy garments like those of one that treadeth the wine-vat ? 
I have trodden the wine-vat alone, 
And of the nations there was none with me. 
And I trod them in mine anger, 
And I trampled them in my fury, 

So that their life-blood was sprinkled upon my garments. 
I have stained all my apparel ; 
I trod down the nations in my anger ; 
I crushed them in my fury, 
And spilled their blood upon the ground ! " 

I must only refer the reader to the beautiful parable of 
the vineyard in Isaiah v. 1-7. 

d. The occupation of the shepherd furnishes beautiful 
and impressive imagery for the poets both lyric and pro- 
phetic. That most exquisite gem of Oriental poetry, the 
23d Psalm, is a charming example of it : — 

" The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; 
He leadeth me beside the still waters. 
He reviveth my soul ; 
He leadeth me in the paths of safety 

For his name's sake [for the credit of his name as a shepherd]. 
When I walk through a valley of death-like shade, 
I fear no evil ; for thou art with me ; 
Thy crook and thy staff, they comfort me." 



156 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Isaiah uses the same image (xl. 11) respecting Jehovah : 

" He shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; 
He shall gather up the lambs in his arms, 
And carry them in his bosom, 
And gently lead the nursing ewes." 

The prophet Ezekiel (xxxiv.) introduces a long meta- 
phor where the princes of the people are represented as 
shepherds, and the people as flocks : — 

" Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. 
Prophesy, and say to them, to the shepherds, 
Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves ! 
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks ? 
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool ; 
Ye eat that which is fatted, but ye feed not the flock. 
The weak ye do not strengthen, 
The sick ye do not heal, 
And the wounded ye do not bind up ; 
Ye bring not back that which has been driven away, 
Neither seek ye that which has been lost, 
But with force and cruelty do ye rule them." 

The prophet continues in this strain through the whole 
chapter, which is worth reading as an illustration of the 
use of this imagery in many applications. 

7. The customs of the people naturally furnish much 
and very forcible imagery to the poets. Few illustrations 
need to be given of them. 

a. The family relation of husband and wife is a very 
favorite illustration, in some of the poets, of the relation of 
Jehovah to the nation ; and when the people disobey him, 
or worship idols, they are said to commit adultery. Hosea 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 57 

and Ezekiel abound with illustrations of this kind, not 
always confining their descriptions within the limits pre- 
scribed by modern taste. See also Jeremiah iii. 1-13, and 
Hosea ii. 

b. Imagery drawn from burial-places in the caves and 
rocks is common, as also that drawn from dress. 

The prophet Ezekiel (xxxvii. 12-14), m describing the 
release of the people from their captivity in Babylon, 
likens the latter to being buried in the grave, and the 
former to a resurrection from the grave : — 

** Behold, I will open your graves 
And cause you to come up out of your graves, 
And put my breath within you ; 
And ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land." 

Hosea (xiii. 14) makes use of the same imagery 
to represent the rescue of the people from bitter 
oppression : — 

" I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; 
I will redeem them from death : 
O death, where is thy plague ? 
O grave, where is thy destruction ? " 

The most remarkable use of this imagery is found in 
Isaiah xiv. 4-27, and Ezekiel xxxii. 18-32, where the 
prophets describe the commotion in the underworld, the 
abode of the dead, when the king of Babylon dies and 
descends to the shades. The passages are too long for 
quotation, and the reader is requested to turn to them and 
read them. 



158 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

In describing the terribleness of the judgment coming 
upon the people, Isaiah (1. 3) avails himself of imagery 
derived from the deep mourning apparel of the people : 

"I will clothe the heavens with blackness 
And make sackcloth their covering." 

And Amos, representing Jehovah, says (viii. 10) : — 

" I will bring sackcloth upon all loins ; 
I will fill the land with mourning as for an only son." 

8. Even the vices of the people are introduced to ren- 
der service to the vivid coloring of the poets. 

The Psalmist (xxxix. 9), describing the delusion and 
wickedness of the nations, exclaims : — 

" The nations are drunk, but not with wine ; 
They stagger, but not with strong drink." 

Again (Isaiah xlix. 27): — 

" With their own blood shall they be drunk, as with new wine." 

Jeremiah exclaims (li. 57): — 

" I will make drunk her [Babylon'sl princes and her wise men, 
Her prefects, her governors, and her mighty men : 
And they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, 
And shall no more wake, saith Jehovah." 



Again (xlvi. 10), still bolder is the figure : — 

" The sword shall devour and satiate itself, 
And it shall be made drunk with blood." 

9. The sacred places, seasons, offices, services, all the 
pomp and glory of the ritual, are made to do service by 






OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 59 

the poets when they illustrate the subjects which occupy 
their thoughts and pen. 

In attempting to present to the people the greatness, the 
majesty of Jehovah, and what service such greatness and 
majesty required, the prophet cries out (Isaiah xl. 16) : — 

" Lebanon [all its cedars] is not sufficient for fire, 
Nor its beasts for a burnt offering" 

Again (xxxiv. 5, 6, 7) : — 

" Saith Jehovah, my sword hath become drunk in heaven ; 
The sword of Jehovah is full of blood ; 
It is covered with fat, 
With the blood of lambs and goats, 
With the fat of the kidneys of rams ; 
For Jehovah holdeth a sacrifice in Bozrah." 

10. The distinction made in the ritual between the 
clean and the unclean is introduced by the poets very 
frequently to represent what is becoming or unbecoming, 
worthy or unworthy, in act or purpose or character ; as in 
the following examples : — 

" The heavens are not clean in his [Jehovah's] sight." 

" The ways of man are clean in his own eyes." — Prov. xvi. 6. 

" Create in me a clean heart, O God."— Ps. li. 10. 

" The land ye go to possess is unclean." — Ezra ix. 11. 

" I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips, 

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." — Isa. vi. 5. 

Here is another beautiful image, derived from the 
Temple service (Psalm cxli. 2) : — 

" Let my prayer come before thee as incense, 
And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" 



160 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

The dress of the high priest was gorgeous ; and when 
he appeared in the Temple arrayed in his flowing robes 
and sparkling breastplate and blazing frontlet, his august 
presence awakened the highest admiration. The poets 
often make reference to this when they would illustrate 
holiness of character and purity of life : — 

" Jehovah reigneth, he is clothed with majesty. 
Jehovah is clothed with majesty and girded with strength." 

" Jehovah hath clothed me with the garments of salvation ; 
He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." 

ii. A few illustrations must be given of the manner in 
which the Hebrew poets refer to remarkable events in their 
history to aid them in painting the calamities or blessings 
which will befall the nation. 

a. Jeremiah refers to the condition of the primitive 
earth as recorded in Genesis, to depict the terrible de- 
struction which had befallen, or would befall, the land : 

11 1 looked to the earth, and lo ! emptiness and desolation [that is, 
" without form and void," Gen. i. 2] ; 
To the heavens, and there is no light." 

" Darkness shall cover the earth, 
And gross darkness the nations." — Isa. lx. 2. 

b. Great blessings are said to be a new creation; as in 
Isaiah lxv. 17: — 

" Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth ; . . . 
Ye shall be glad and exult forever 
In that which I create ; 
For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, 
And her people a joy." 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. l6l 

c. He also illustrates the calamities which would over- 
whelm the people and land, by imagery drawn from the 
deluge (xxiv. 1 8) : — 

" The floodgates of heaven are opened, 
And the foundations of the earth tremble. 
The earth reeleth like a drunkard ; 
It moveth to and fro like a hammock." 

d. The destruction of the cities of the plain furnishes 
most startling imagery to the poets when they would 
describe the utter and terrible overthrow of wicked cities 
and peoples (Psalm xi. 6) : — 

" Upon the wicked he will rain lightning ; 
Fire and brhnstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their 
cup." 

And Isaiah, when he would impressively describe the utter 
overthrow of the hostile kingdom of Edom, exclaims 
(xxxiv. 8-10) : — 

"Jehovah holdeth a day of vengeance, 
A year of recompense in the cause of Zion. 
The streams shall be turned into pitch, 
And her dust into brimstone, 
And her whole land shall become burning pitch ; 
Day and night it shall not be quenched, 
Its smoke shall ascend forever ; 
From generation to generation it shall lie waste, 
None shall pass through it forever and ever." 

e. The exodus from Egypt and the marvels attending 
it furnish abundant and varied imagery to the poets 
when they would describe great deliverances and special 
blessings. 

11 



1 62 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Isaiah illustrates the escape from captivity and return 
to Jerusalem by vivid imagery drawn from that event. 
Hear him encourage the people to brave the desert and 
the foe (xliii. 16-21) : — 

" Thus saith Jehovah : 
He that made a way in the sea, 
And a path in mighty waters, 
That caused the chariot and the horse, the 
Army and the forces, to march forth ; 
There they lay down together ; they rose no more ; 
They were extinguished, they were quenched like a torch; 
Remember not the former things ; 
The things of old regard no more ! 
Behold I do a new thing ; 
Now shall it spring forth ; yea, ye shall see it. 
Behold I make a way in the wilderness, 
And streams in the desert ; 
The beasts of the forests shall honor me, 
The jackals and the ostriches ; 
For I make rivers in the wilderness, 
And streams in the desert, 
To give drink to my people, my chosen." 

The same period of the people's history furnished the 
same writer (li. 9-1 1) the following words of cheer to the 
people to go forward, as he addresses them to Jehovah in 
most urgent appeal : — 

" Awake ! awake ! clothe thyself with strength, O arm of Jehovah ! 
Awake, as in ancient days, in the generations of old ! 
Art thou not the same that smote Rahab [Egypt], 
And wounded the dragon ? 
Art thou not the same that dried up the sea, 
The waters of the great deep, — 

That made the depths of the sea a path for the redeemed to pass 
through ? 






OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 63 

Then shall the ransomed of Jehovah return ; 
They shall come to Zion with singing ; 
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads ; 
They shall obtain gladness and joy, 
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 

Once more (xlviii. 20, 24), he calls to the captives : — 

" Come ye forth from Babylon, 
Flee ye from the land of the Chaldeans ; 
Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob ; 
They thirst not in the deserts through which he leadeth them ; 
Waters from the rock he causeth to flow for them ; 
He cleaveth the rock and the waters gush forth." 

f. The phenomena at Sinai enable the Psalmist to de- 
scribe most graphically his rescue from his enemies by the 
interposition of Jehovah (xviii. 7-9) : — 

" Then the earth quaked and trembled, 
The foundations of the mountains rocked and were shaken. 
He bowed the heavens and came down, 
And darkness was under his feet ; 
He made darkness his covering, 

His pavilion round about him was thick clouds of the skies. 
The Lord also thundered from heaven, 
And the Most High uttered his voice ; 
He sent forth his arrows, and scattered them, 
Continual lightnings, and discomfited them. 
He stretched forth his hand from above ; he took me, 
And drew me out of deep waters." 

12. Fabulous creatures were a source of poetic imagery, 
and the poets occasionally introduce them with marked 
effect. The prophet, in describing the utter desolation of 
Babylon (xiii. 21), says of its location : — 



1 64 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

" Wild beasts of the desert shall lodge there, 
And owls shall fill their houses ; 
And ostriches shall dwell there, 
And satyrs shall dance there." 

And the same writer, describing the utter desolation of 
Edom, says (xxxiv. 14) : — 

" The wild cats shall fall upon the wolves, 
And the satyr shall call to his fellow ; 
There also shall the night-spectre light, 
And find a place of rest." 

I have now, as fully as the limits of this work will allow, 
illustrated the kinds of Hebrew poetry, — its structure, its 
sources, and its imagery. I should like to dwell at some 
length upon the spirit — the purely literary character — 
of these poetical books, and give illustrations of the free 
use which their writers make of the usual figures of speech 
fully described in our books on Rhetoric, and which are 
the common property of all ages and all peoples. The 
simple comparison is used very frequently, but seems tame 
in these writings by the side of the bold metaphors, the 
bolder apostrophes, and the startling personifications which 
abound ; for example, Jeremiah (xlvii.) exclaims : — 

" O sword of Jehovah, how long ere thou wilt be quiet ? 
Return to thy scabbard ! rest and be still." 

The Psalmist cries (cxiv.) : — 

" What aileth thee, O thou sea ! that thou fleest ? 
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back ? 
Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams, 
And ye hills like lambs ? " 



OBSERVATIONS ON HEBREW POETRY. 1 65 

In the 8th chapter of Proverbs is a continuous personi- 
fication of wisdom. 

The allegory or parable is less frequently resorted to 
than we should expect. But there are two instances of 
its use preserved to us which are gems, — the Parable of 
Jotham, Judges ix. 7, in which he satirizes the poor 
choice of a king by the people, by describing a parlia- 
ment of trees which chose the bramble for a king ; and 
the Parable of the Vineyard by Isaiah (v. 1-7). Ezekiel 
often introduces them, but he is a writer much inferior in 
skill to those named. His parable of the two eagles may 
be referred to (xvii. 1-10). 

CONCLUSION. 

A marked characteristic of the Hebrew poetry is its ele- 
vated and often gorgeous imagery, exceedingly hyperboli- 
cal, and frequently startling us with the amazing boldness 
of its language and the loftiness of its thought. I will refer 
the reader to a few examples of these (want of room for- 
bids the gratification of my desire to quote them) : Habak- 
kuk iii. ; Psalm xxix. ; Psalm xviii. ; Psalm Ixxvii. There 
are other passages equally sublime, as Job xxxix. 19-25 ; 
xli. 1 2-34. The Hebrew poets, catching inspiration from 
objects in Nature, from events in history, from the customs 
and occupations of life, from the ceremonies of their won- 
derful ritual, clothed them all with highest significance, 
and employed them to illustrate the attributes and provi- 
dence of God and the duties and experiences of man. 



1 66 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

No Oriental poetry can compare with theirs in sublimity 
of thought and sublimity of expression. The divine affla- 
tus carries the poet into the heavens. He breathes the 
pure ether and beholds the divine purposes and agencies. 
Other Oriental poets smother you with the fragrance of 
roses, soothe you with the songs of birds and maidens, 
and calm you with the sedative of poppies. The Hebrew 
poet invigorates you with the tonic odors of cedar-trees, 
and rouses and thrills you with the voice of cataracts, 
tornadoes, and thunder-peals. His is no effeminate spirit. 
It is nourished by 

" Thoughts that voluntary move 
Harmonious numbers," 

like the swellings of Jordan or the floods of Kishon. No 
Grecian, no Roman poet cherished and expressed such 
lofty conceptions of the Supreme Being as are found in 
these writers. Addressed as these poems are to the pro- 
foundest wants of man, in language and imagery which 
are so universally understood, they have held their high 
place in the literatures of the world, and at the head of 
them all. The sad and the joyful, the successful and the 
unfortunate, find fit words in which to express their grief 
and exultation in these venerable, these grand old Hebrew 
poets. In hut and palace alike they have given, during 
all the centuries, comfort and inspiration ; and the great 
refrain will be caught up by generations to come as it has 
been by generations past, till men shall cease to admire 
what is grand or be inspired by what is divine. 



THE BOOK OF JOB. l6/ 

CHAPTER II. 

THE BOOK OF JOB. 

This is one of the most remarkable, if not the most 
remarkable, of the books in the Bible, whether we con- 
sider its construction, its subject, its style, or the variety 
of opinions which have been maintained by eminent schol- 
ars respecting its author, its age, and the place of its com- 
position. The historian Froude calls it " a book of which 
it is to say little to call it unequalled of its kind, and which 
will one day, perhaps, when it is allowed to stand on its 
own merits, be seen towering up alone, far away, above all 
the poetry of the world." The great German poet and 
critic, Herder (vol. i. p. 21), writing of the author, de- 
scribes him as one " whose soul kindled with these divine 
conceptions, who embraced in a single glance the heavens 
and the earth, and who could send forth his living spirit, 
his poetic fire, and his human affections to all that exists, 
from the land of the shadow of death to the starry firma- 
ment and beyond the stars. No cypress flourishing in 
unfading green marks the place of his rest. With his 
unuttered name he has consigned to oblivion all that was 
earthly. In this book, full of imperishable thought, he 
still lives and extends his triumph over centuries and con- 
tinents. A phoenix has sprung from his ashes, and from 
his odorous nest is diffused an incense which gives and 



1 68 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

will forever give reviving energy to the faint and strength 
to the powerless." " It is the sublimest composition of 
Hebrew genius inspired by God," exclaims Davidson. 



Section I. — The Age of Job. 

The age in which Job lived, whose calamity and 
character are the ground of the discussion contained in 
this book, is not agreed upon by critics, but a clew may 
be found perhaps in the place of his residence and the 
tribal relations of his three friends. The land of Uz, in 
which he lived, was very probably situated on the eastern 
borders of the mountainous region east of Jordan, and 
his friends were residents of that region, if we may rely 
upon their names and traditional ancestry. Eliphaz was a 
Temanite, and Teman was a son of Esau (Genesis xxxvi. 
4), and their country was in that region. Bildad the 
Shuhite was a descendant of Shuah, a son of Abraham by 
Keturah (Genesis xxv. 2). This tribe also lived in this 
region easterly. Zophar the Naamathite cannot be even 
conjecturally located, as there is no town or country by 
this name ; but it is probable that his residence was in 
the same region as that of the others, and not far from 
Job's. Elihu was son of Barachel the Buzite. Buz was 
a son of Nahor and a nephew of Abraham (Genesis xxii. 
21). This people occupied the country on the borders 
of Arabia (Jeremiah xxv. 23). Our hero is therefore lo- 
cated by the poet on the borders of Arabia. 

With this clew to the residence of Job, we may perhaps 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 1 69 

give a probable guess at the age in which he lived. It 
seems from his occupation that he lived in the nomadic 
age, when flocks and herds were the chief property, and 
rearing them the chief occupation. The age to which Job 
lived, about two hundred years, agrees with a very early 
period (chapter xlii. 16). The only kind of money men- 
tioned agrees with this period (Genesis xxxiii. 1 9 ; Job 
xlii. n). The form of worship also agrees with the cus- 
toms of an early age. These and other indications justify 
the conclusion that very probably the author intended to 
place his hero in the patriarchal age. But this by no 
means determines the age of the writer of the poem, any 
more than the fact that Julius Caesar lived before the 
Christian era proves that Shakspeare, who wrote the 
tragedy of "Julius Caesar," lived before that era. 

What, then, was the age of the writer of the Book 
of Job? Scholars differ very widely on this subject, and 
it would be merely a waste of time to name the different 
periods to which the writing of this work has been referred, 
and to name their advocates. It is sufficient for my pur- 
pose to say that almost every century, from before the 
time of Moses down to that of Ezra, has had its advocates. 
There are, however, two limits, it seems to me, within 
which it must have been written. The language of the 
book contains no " archaisms," or obsolete forms or 
meanings of words, as does the Pentateuch ; so that it was 
not written till those forms and meanings had gone out 
of use, some centuries after the composition of the Pen- 
tateuch. It is equally certain that it was not written after 



170 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

the captivity, for the Aramaicisms or Chaldaisms of the 
post-captivity literature are not found in it. At what 
point in these six or eight centuries the writer lived can- 
not be determined with any degree of certainty ; but the 
purity of the language, and the grandeur of the style and 
the subject treated, would lead one to place its composi- 
tion in the golden age of Hebrew literature, or about the 
age of Solomon. 



Section II. — The Author. 

The author is unknown. His name is buried in ob- 
livion, but his fame has survived the wreck of literatures 
and kingdoms. He has erected a monument more dura- 
ble than brass, but no name is inscribed thereon. Guesses 
like the stars in multitude have been made, but nothing, 
absolutely nothing, is known of the author but his work. 
This lives, and will live forever. It proves him to have 
been a poet of almost miraculous genius and daring 
expression, mounting to the very heavens on the wings 
of his inspiration, or revealing the ocean-bed by the 
penetration of his vision. 

Section III. — Integrity and Style. 

The work appears to have been preserved with great 
accuracy through all the hazards of its long existence. 
A very few passages seem to have been misplaced, and 
the whole of the speech of Elihu has been supposed 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 171 

by some very eminent critics to be an addition by a later 
writer. But this opinion has not found acceptance among 
critics generally. The disposition to substitute guesses for 
evidence has had too wide an influence among a class 
of Biblical scholars. The short passage in chapter xxvii. 
13-23 is attributed, with some show of reason, to Zophar 
as his final speech, thus rounding out the three speeches 
in the third series. In chapter xxxi., it is possible that 
verses 38-40 should be placed after verse 25. At any rate 
they fit in there well, and seem out of place where they 
now stand. 

The book is written in poetry, except the 1st and 
2d chapters, and from the 1st to the 6th verses inclu- 
sive of the 3 2d chapter, and from the 7th to the 17th 
verses inclusive of the 42 d chapter. The style, very 
terse for the most part, is sublime and impassioned. 
Some of the speeches are so long as to begin to be 
tiresome, and are diffuse with repetitions; yet the style 
of the different speakers is well preserved in their 
speeches. 

Eliphaz represents the true patriarchal chieftain, grave 
and dignified, and erring only from an exclusive adherence 
to opinions hitherto unquestioned, and, in the first part of 
the discussion, influenced by a genuine regard for Job and 
sympathy with his affliction. 

Bildad, without very much originality or independence 
of character, but very severe, reposes partly on the wise 
sayings of the ancients, and partly on the authority of his 
older friend. 



172 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Zophar differs from both. He appears like a young 
man, and his language is violent, and at times coarse and 
offensive. He fitly represents the prejudiced and narrow- 
minded bigots who know everything and can be taught 
nothing. 

Elihu, the superfluous speaker, is a youngster, bluster- 
ing, bombastic, self-sufficient, defiant. Yet withal he 
utters some magnificent as well as some grandiloquent 
sentences, and comes nearer to a true explanation of Job's 
sad condition than either of his elders. 



Section IV. — The Subject. 

The subject discussed, though not formally stated, is 
the Jewish doctrine that prosperity and adversity, health 
and sickness, are attendant upon moral desert, and that 
good character and bad are determined by worldly con- 
dition. 

It seems to be the object of the writer to propound a 
better view, and to show that suffering is sometimes at 
least disciplinary as well as penal, and to teach submis- 
sion to God and trust in him when his ways are un- 
searchable, and to man unreasonable and unmerciful. 

Section V. — 'The Structure. 

The structure of the book now claims our notice. It 
is dramatic ; not a tragedy, as it has been called, but 
more like one of Plato's philosophical dialogues. It may 






THE BOOK OF JOB. 1 73 

perhaps be a Hebrew form of tragedy. The whole work 
may be divided into three parts, which can properly 
enough be called the Prologue, the Dialogue or Drama, 
and the Epilogue. 

1. The Prologue, chapters i.-ii., is in prose, and dis- 
closes the cause of Job's affliction. It opens by saying 
that Job was an upright man, fearing God, and had seven 
sons and three daughters, and seven thousand sheep, three 
thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred 
she asses, and a great number of servants. The sons were 
accustomed to make a feast in turn, and to invite the 
sisters to it, and when the round of feasting ceased, Job 
sent for them to sanctify them and offer burnt offerings, 
that he might restrain them from idolatry. 

The scene is now transferred to heaven, where the sons 
of God assembled, and Satan, the accusing angel, — detec- 
tive police, he might be called, — came also and reported, 
contrary to God's opinion, that the supposed eminently 
pious Job did " not serve God for nought ; " he was rich 
and prosperous, and had all his heart's desire, but only 
" bring misfortune upon him and he will renounce thee." 
He is permitted to test him by destroying his property. 
A messenger arrives, and announces that the Sabeans 
have seized his herds and slain his servants ; a second 
follows, announcing that fire from God has burned the 
sheep ; and a third comes, crying that the camels are 
taken by the Chaldeans; and still a fourth rushes in, 
announcing that a whirlwind has smitten the house in 
which his children were feasting, and that they are all dead. 



174 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Job bows his head in sorrowful submission, but sins not, 
nor renounces his God. 

A second meeting takes place in heaven, and Satan 
reports and asks to touch Job's person as a final test. 
Permission is granted, and Job is smitten with boils 
{elephantiasis). And he sat down in the ashes. His wife 
reproaches him for his resignation and trust, and tells 
him ironically to " bless God and die ; " or, seriously, to 
" renounce God and die," for the original may be ren- 
dered either way. " Foolish woman," he replies, " shall 
we not receive evil as well as good from the hand of 
God?" And Job sinned not. 

Then the three friends of Job, hearing of his sad calami- 
ties, came to see him and comfort him ; and when they 
saw his pitiable condition they cried and wept, and sat 
on the ground for seven days and seven nights in silence. 
So the Prologue opens to us the tragedy, if one is pleased 
to call it by that name. 

2. The Dialogue, or Drama proper, consists of six parts. 

Job opens his case to his friends, and describes his 
distress, and wishes the day in which he was born might 
perish, heaping upon it the greatest evils conceivable, of 
darkness and utter forgetfulness. Every word throbs with 
agony and despair (chapter iii.). 

Now open the regular speeches and rejoinders. 

First Round (chapters iv.-xiv.). 

Eliphaz timidly and somewhat tenderly tries to soothe 
Job, and relates an oracle. 






THE BOOK OF JOB. 1 75 

Job replies restively. 

Bildad rebukes him for his rebellious spirit. 

Job vindicates himself and excuses his complaining. 

Zophar rebukes him more sharply. 

Job replies to him with keenest sarcasm. 

Second Round (chapters xv.-xxi.). 

Eliphaz changes his tone to severity. 
Job feelingly protests his innocence. 
Bildad scoffs at him, and describes how God treats the 
wicked. 

Job complains of his cruelty to a helpless man. 
Zophar repeats his old argument, and reproaches Job. 
Job replies to him rather languidly. 

Third Round (chapters xxii.-xxxi.). 

Eliphaz charges him with specific sins. 

Job wishes he might answer to God, and not to such 
men. 

Bildad informs Job that God is great and pure. 

Job turns upon him in one of the sublimest descriptions 
of the Supreme Being recorded in literature, — appeals to 
his past life as honorable and good past all conviction. 

Zophar is silenced by this overwhelming speech of Job, 
— a fine artifice of the author. 

These three men declining to speak any longer, as 
they could not convince Job of his guiltiness, the wrath 
of young Elihu is kindled, and he delivers himself with 



176 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

a good deal of pomposity and some good sense, of 
the "wine that was fermenting in his bosom" (chapters 
xxxii.-xxxvii.). 

Then out of the sublimity of the passing whirlwind 
Jehovah speaks, rebuking them all, and pronouncing his 
ways inscrutable to man, yet declaring the innocence of 
his servant Job (chapters xxxviii.-xli.). 

Job meekly answers in a few words (chapter xlii. 1-6), 
and the discussion, or drama, closes. 

3. In the Epilogue, in prose, Jehovah rebukes the 
three friends as being mistaken, restores to Job his former 
wealth twice told, and all his relatives visit him, bringing 
presents. And Job also has seven sons and three daugh- 
ters, the most beautiful of all in the land ; and dies in 
peace among his children, after enjoying their society for 
one hundred and forty years. 

Such is a very imperfect outline of this marvellous book. 
After reading it one naturally asks, Did such a person as 
Job ever live; and if such a person did live, did such 
things happen to him? It is possible that among the 
traditions of the people some such account may have 
been preserved, which the poet worked over and up into 
this most sublime drama. That any such discussion ever 
took place, is incredible. Yet Dr. Barnes thinks that the 
parties to this discussion were real persons, and that they 
wrote out their parts with great deliberation one after the 
other, and read their papers when they met ! To such 
an extent of absurdity could a good and otherwise sensible 
man be led. 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 177 

Section VI. — Immortality. 

There has always been a division of opinion among 
scholars respecting the interpretation of chapter xix. 
25-29, — one school contending that the doctrine of im- 
mortality is taught in it and the resurrection of the body ; 
the other school maintaining that there is no reference 
here to anything beyond this life. If the subject of this 
drama, as is almost universally agreed, is the discussion 
and illustration of God's government in this world, and 
the erroneousness of the doctrine that " men suffer and 
enjoy in temporal things here just in proportion to their 
moral desert," then the introduction of references to any 
condition beyond this life would be out of place, and 
not at all to the purpose ; and the presumption is that it 
would not be done by a consistent writer. The whole 
controversy, therefore, turns upon the translation of two 
verses. In our version they read as follows : — 

" For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
stand at the latter day upon the earth : and though after my 
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God," 

Professor Noyes translates as follows, which is not in 
violation of the legitimate meaning of any of the Hebrew 
words, and brings this passage into harmony with the 
general purpose of the book : — 

" Yet I know that m£ Vindicator [God] liveth, 
And will hereafter stand up on the earth [to vindicate my 
innocence] ; 



178 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

And though with my skin this body be wasted away, 

Yet without my flesh I shall see God [even so badly 

wasted away as to be only skin and bones, 
God will yet vindicate me from your charges]." 

The whole reference is to this life, and not to the future. 



Section VII. — Theology and Inspiration. 

The theology of the writer of this book is : That God is 
one, unapproachable in majesty, unlimited in power, in- 
scrutable in his government, yet doing all things well, 
though they seem so dark and mysterious to man. He is 
the creator and ruler of all things animate and inanimate, 
intelligent and unintelligent, and is an ever-acting agent 
in all things, from atom to angel, from earth to star. 

As regards the inspiration of this book, in the common 
acceptance of that word, there is no evidence anywhere, 
in the book or out of it, that this writer, whoever he was, 
had any divine aid either in the selection or management 
of his subject. He wTites as an Oriental poet would write, 
who was educated in the religion of the Hebrews ; but he 
is no revealer of divine truth, nor an infallible teacher of 
wisdom. There is no evidence whatever that he wrote 
by divine direction, and that he was so guided that his 
words are God's words. His writings are subject to the 
same criticism as the writings of any other person. He 
is a grand poet, and deserves and will receive the pro- 
found admiration of all appreciative minds while the 
world stands. This is his true fame and honor, and 
it is enough. 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS, 179 

CHAPTER III. 

THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 

This is a collection, made at various times, of the 
poetry of the Hebrews, which was adapted to public occa- 
sions for recitation and singing, accompanied by musical 
instruments. It was the Hebrew hymnal. The different 
poems or psalms were undoubtedly the offspring of special 
individual experience, born of joy or sorrow, success or 
adversity, penitence or trust. Some of them were com- 
posed for special occasions of national thanksgiving, for 
victories over enemies, or in celebration of remarkable 
events in their history, for festival days, temple services, 
and personal edification. A few are historical, in which 
the poet strives to condense into a few lines the course 
of the nation's history for the instruction of the young. 
The structure and formation of the book will inform us 
of its importance in its own age, and why it has survived 
all ages. 

Section I. — Compilations. 

The one hundred and fifty psalms of which the book 
is composed are the result of five compilations made at 
different periods of the nation's existence. 

i. The first compilation extends to Psalm xli. inclusive, 
and closes with a doxology, — " Blessed be the Lord God 



l8o THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Amen, and 
Amen." As this is the oldest collection, we should expect 
to find in it the oldest psalms ; and we do. The language 
shows it, and tradition attributes a large part of them to 
David, and there is no good reason to doubt that he was 
their author. At how early a period this collection was 
made, it is impossible to tell; but it is probable that it 
was made in the time of Solomon, which was an active 
literary period. There is but one passage which indicates 
that any psalm was written at a later period (xiv. 7) ; and 
this may have been added to the original psalm by some 
later compiler, or the whole psalm may have been attrib- 
uted to David by some later collector, and inserted 
improperly among the early poems. At any rate, the 
presence of one discordant verse in the whole collection 
cannot overbalance the testimony of the language and the 
records of tradition ; and the tradition of the Davidic 
composition of some of the psalms is very old (2 Chroni- 
cles xxix. 30). 

2. The second compilation includes Psalms xlii.-lxxii. 
Of these the sons of Korah are reported to be the authors 
of xlii.-xlix. ; and David of l.-lxv. ; the authorship of the 
remaining psalms is not named, showing that this tradi- 
tion of authorship was not a mere guess, but based upon 
some reason sufficient to cause a distinction to be made 
between them. The 53d is like the 14th, and in the 70th 
is a part of xl. 13-17, showing that some of these psalms 
were worked over ; thus rendering it impossible to decide 
with certainty the age and author of any psalm by any 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS. l8l 

verse or fragment of the whole. When this collection 
was made it is impossible to tell with any certainty ; 
probably before the captivity. There is nothing in the 
collection to show that any of these psalms were written 
later than that time, and the language forbids any such 
opinion. This collection also closes with a doxology 
(lxxii. 1 8, 19) and a note, — " The prayers of David the 
son of Jesse are ended." 

3. The third compilation is very small (lxxiii.-lxxxix.), 
and the first ten psalms are attributed to Asaph, and the 
remainder to the sons of Korah. It is probable that this 
collection was not made till after the return from the cap- 
tivity, and Psalm Ixxxvi. indicates that it was not written 
till that time. The others were written earlier than this 
time, and were the gleanings left by earlier collectors. A 
doxology closes this collection also, which makes no part 
of the psalm, — " Blessed be the Lord forevermore. 
Amen, and Amen." 

4. The fourth compilation includes xc.-cvi., and was not 
made probably till after the captivity, though the psalms 
were composed at an earlier period apparently, as the lan- 
guage is purer than in those books which were written 
after the captivity. The 90th psalm is attributed to Moses 
by the tradition current when these notes of authorship 
were prefixed to the different psalms. There is no proof 
that he was the author, nor can there be ; but, as Ewald 
says, " In subject-matter and style it is original, and pow- 
erful in its originality, and would rightly be attributed to 
Moses, the man of God, if we knew more exactly the 



1 82 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

historical grounds which led the collector to this view." 
Herder, in view of its calm sublimity and terse expression, 
calls it " that ancient psalm, that hymn of Eternity." And 
Isaac Taylor says, " It might be cited as perhaps the most 
sublime human composition, the deepest in feeling, the 
loftiest in theological conception, the most magnificent in 
its imagery." No man knows its author. This collec- 
tion, also, closes with a doxology, which makes no part of 
the concluding psalm. The time specified for the com- 
position of some of these psalms may be correct. Psalm 
xcvi. is a song said to have been composed by David on 
a festival (i Chronicles xvi. 7-34). 

5. They£/?/z compilation includes the remainder of the 
book (cvii.-cl.). These psalms are mostly anonymous 
and liturgic, prepared evidently for worship. A few are 
ascribed to David ; but the distance of time between this 
collector and David renders of little value the tradition 
to which he trusted. The language of these psalms is 
indicative of a very late age, and the style is poor and 
often turgid. The collection was probably made by 
degrees, and may not have been finished till very late. 
Some critics maintain that many of these psalms were 
written as late as the time of the Maccabees (150 b.c.) ; 
but no certainty can be attained in regard to this point. 

It is by no means probable that all the poetry of this 
kind which was written by the Hebrews is contained in 
these five collections which compose the Book of Psalms. 
Each collector was governed by his own taste, just as 
a modern collector of hymns is, and what these men 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 1 83 

rejected has perished. Undoubtedly they preserved the 
best. At all events, we ought to be grateful that they 
have preserved so much, and that it is so excellent. That 
the Hebrews were a literary people in the golden age of 
their nation is evident past all question. Solomon is said, 
in 1 Kings iv. 32, to have written one thousand and five 
songs, besides works on botany and zoology, and proverbs 
without number. It is not credible that he was the only 
man that felt the poetic fire and wrote under the inspiration 
of the Muse. 



Section II. — Notes and Tunes. 

The introductory notes to the psalms, giving the name 
of the writer and directions to the musicians and singers, 
are no part of the psalmist's work, and as far as author- 
ship is concerned cannot be implicitly relied upon. 

The Hebrews had tunes, as we have, which sometimes 
took their names from the first line of some favorite song 
or hymn, and these tunes are mentioned in that way some- 
times ; as Psalm lvi. is to be sung to the air of " The silent 
dove in far-off lands," evidently plaintive ; or as Psalm lvii., 
to the tune of " Destroy not " ; or as Psalm xxii., to the 
melody of " The hind of the Dawn." Sometimes special 
directions are given either at the beginning of the psalm, 
or in it, to the performers, when to sing and when to play ; 
and the word " Selah," which is sometimes found in a 
psalm, is supposed to refer to the use of the instruments 
in the orchestra, and directs them to pause. 



1 84 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

If the introductory notes to the Psalms were reliable, 
the authors would have credit for the following number 
each : David, seventy- three ; Asaph, twelve ; the sons of 
Korah, eleven; Heman, four; Ethan, one; Solomon, 
two ; Moses, one ; anonymous, fifty. 

Of the alphabetic psalms I have said all that is necessary 
in the " Introduction to the Poetical Books ; " and of the 
subjects which are treated in them it is sufficient to say that 
every yearning of the human soul finds expression. God 
in his majesty, speaking in the thunder and destroying in 
the pestilence ; God in his mercy, reviving the fainting 
and forgiving the penitent ; man in his weakness, implor- 
ing strength; man in his vigor, admiring the heavens; 
the blessedness of worship, and how to offer it acceptably ; 
the desolation of bereavement and the inspiration of so- 
ciety ; the wretchedness of betrayal and the glory of con- 
stancy, — every condition in life, from hut to palace, can 
find fit words in which to express its want or abundance ; 
every degree of emotion, from despair to exultation, sobs 
or sings in these marvellous productions of the Hebrew 
bards. 

The ethics of a few of these psalms, called imprecatory 
psalms, are not in accordance with our Christian code. 
The denunciations of wrath are terrible, and the judgments 
which they call down upon their enemies are such as chill 
our blood. I refer to one as an example of the rest, — 
Psalm cix. By no sophistication can theologians convince 
me that God ever directed men to say such things, or 
pray for such judgments on their fellow-men. These 






THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 1 85 

psalms are the outpouring of the bitterest hatred, and 
of a thirst for revenge, deep and malignant. 

The doctrine of immortality is neither taught nor sung 
in these psalms ; a very remarkable fact, since we know 
that many of the later - ones were written when it is con- 
ceded on all hands that the doctrine was generally 
received among the people. Psalm xvi. 10 has been 
thought to refer to the future state ; but it does not, as the 
connection and a proper translation show. David, the 
writer, is confident he shall be preserved in spite of all 
trials, and exclaims : — 

" Thou wilt not give me up to the underworld, 
Nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see the pit [grave]." 

The same is true of Psalm xlix. 15. The hope of the 
life to come does not penetrate and fill these psalms as 
it does Christian hymnology ; but instead, darkness veils 
and silence pervades the land of souls. 

Section III. — Messianic Psalms. 

There are some psalms which have been understood as 
referring to Jesus the Messiah, and no little confusion and 
perplexity have arisen from the discussion of the sub- 
ject. Though it is the business of a commentary, and 
not of an introduction, to examine and interpret such 
psalms, it seems necessary to give them a very brief 
notice in this place. They are, or the most important 
are, the following: ii., xvi., xxii., xl., xlv., lxxii., and ex. 



1 86 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

It must be borne in mind that this Book of Psalms is the 
expression of personal experience and personal wants ; and 
as human experience and human wants, human trials and 
fears and joys, are much the same in all ages, we can read 
to-day, as expressive of our own experience and condition 
and wants and trials, the language of the old psalms. We 
can use the pronoun " I," and feel that it is perfectly fit 
and right to do so. We can pray in the words of a 
psalm, or praise in the words of a psalm, and still utter 
what is true of ourselves to the very letter, though written 
to express the feelings of a person three thousand years 
ago ; just as we repeat and quote the poetry of our own 
day to more fully express our feelings than we can do it 
in our own words. The Psalms were the great fountain 
of Jewish quotation, as Shakspeare is of English. We 
are not surprised, therefore, to find that Jewish writers are 
constantly using the language of the psalms in describing 
their own feelings, and events transpiring in their time, and 
also applying them to others as well as to themselves. 

Very many descriptions of the condition and feelings 
of the psalmists themselves apply to the Messiah, and are 
quoted by the evangelists and apostles, and by Jesus him- 
self, as most aptly descriptive of his person, his work, his 
sufferings, his triumph. The inquiry is, (i) whether the 
Psalmist had Jesus the Messiah in his mind, and spoke of 
him only; or (2) whether he had him in his mind but spoke 
of himself as well as of the Messiah : or (3) whether he 
had not the Messiah nor any other person in his mind, 
but was so guided by the Holy Spirit that what he wrote 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 1 87 

was truly applicable to the Messiah, and intended to be so 
by the inspirer ; or (4) whether his description of himself 
was simply and aptly appropriate to the condition of 
others, and to the Messiah in particular? If we look at 
the psalms themselves we shall see that the writer most 
evidently had no one in mind but himself, or some one 
of his time. Whether the writers of the New Testament 
or the Messiah himself believed that they had him distinctly 
in mind is a question of New Testament interpretation 
into which I have no occasion to enter. 

Psalm x. is an expression of the king's trust in God 
that he would enable him to "break the nations, his 
enemies, with a rod of iron," and "dash them in pieces 
like a potter's vessel." This is not the way in which 
Christ triumphs ; but an Oriental king would glory in 
trampling his foes in the dust. 

Psalm xvi. is a prayer for aid, — a professed hatred of 
the bloody offerings of false gods, and confidence in divine 
protection from foes. There is no reference to a Messiah. 
No reader of the psalm itself would suspect it. 

Psalm xxii. contains many sentences which are applied 
to Christ and used by him in the New Testament ; yet as 
we read the psalm we feel that any one in deep distress, 
as the writer evidently was, surrounded by merciless ene- 
mies seeking his life, could just as appropriately use the 
language or have it applied to him in a description of his 
condition. 

In Psalm xl., a passage in which is applied to Christ, 
we find that the writer confesses that his " iniquities are 



1 88 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

more than the hairs of his head." Yet this is the same 
person whose words describing himself just before are 
applied to the Messiah. 

Psalm xlv. is written in praise of a king, and summoning 
him to war and conquest. " Daughters of kings are among 
his chosen women." Yet there are passages here which 
can be applied in quite another sense to the Messiah. 

Psalm lxxii. describes a good king who will reign mostly 
in peace, but he will break in pieces the oppressor ; his 
enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and 
of the isles shall bring presents ; the kings of Sheba and 
Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before 
him ; to him shall be given the gold of Sheba. Calvin 
says, " They who will have this [psalm] to be simply a 
prediction of the kingdom of Christ do seem to twist the 
words violently." 

The person represented as speaking in Psalm ex., a 
king on Mount Zion, is said to crush kings in the day of 
his wrath. He shall execute justice among the nations ; 
he shall fill them with dead bodies ; he shall crush the 
heads of his enemies in many lands, — a mighty king 
indeed, but not the Prince of peace. 

Thus it is evident enough that none of these so-called 
Messianic psalms refer to the personal Messiah, Jesus, but 
only contain descriptions of conditions and actions which 
may be used in speaking of him, as we might quote from 
any modern poet words fitly describing one about whom 
we w r ere writing. 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 1 89 

Section IV. — Inspiration. 

In regard to the inspiration of this Book of Psalms, no 
person qualified to speak with authority on the subject has 
ever affirmed that these poems were inspired in the usual 
acceptation of that word when used of the books of the Bible. 
Therefore the inquiry is confined to the claims of the 
book itself. But this book is made up of five different 
collections, made by different persons at different times 
during at least five centuries and what may be said of 
one collection may not be true of the others. Besides, 
there are fifty of the psalms which were written by persons 
whose names are not even suggested by the compiler, and 
of whose inspiration we can know nothing whatever. Nor 
is there anywhere the slightest hint in the book or out of 
it that Asaph, and Heman, and Ethan, and the sons of 
Korah were inspired ; and Solomon, who wrote only 
two, falls into the same category. There is no certainty 
that Moses wrote Psalm xc. ; and if there was, there is 
nothing in the psalm requiring divine aid for its compo- 
sition. David only is left, to whom seventy-three psalms 
are attributed. How many of these he wrote is by no 
means certain. Was he inspired when he did write? 
There are but two passages which have the slightest 
reference to the subject. The first is Matthew xxii. 43, 
in which our Saviour, to silence the Pharisees, who had 
tried to ensnare him in his words, turns upon them with a 
question relating to their own interpretation of the words 
of David, which they applied to the future Messiah ; but 



190 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

of the correctness of their interpretation he says nothing. 
"If David, as you believe and teach, called him, the 
Messiah, his lord, how can he be his son?" referring to 
Psalm ex. This, I say, is one of those cases where our 
Saviour reasons on the interpretation of the Pharisees. 
There is no evidence that he accepted it. He neither 
says on his authority that the psalm refers to him, nor 
that David was "in spirit," — what theologians call 
" inspired ; " and we have already seen that this psalm 
does not refer to the Messiah. Nor was it probably 
written by David, but by some one in his honor, — a 
psalm about David, not written by David. The other 
passage is in 2 Samuel xxiii. 2, where the unknown author 
of the book has introduced a fragment of a poem by David, 
in which he says : "The spirit of the Lord spake by me, 
and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, 
the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men 
must be just, ruling in the fear of God." It is evident 
from these words that they are only a poetic expressio?i of 
the common language of piety. The devout soul (and 
David was sometimes very devout notwithstanding his 
manifold sins) always speaks in this way of its acts as di- 
rected by God, and its words as given by God. There is 
no proof here that God had made any special revelation 
of truth to David any more than he makes to every filial, 
appreciative soul. We cannot be too careful to distinguish 
the language of piety, especially when expressed in poetry, 
from the language of revelation. 



THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 191 



CONCLUSION. 



The conclusion of the whole matter is, that there is no 
satisfactory evidence of any kind anywhere that the Book 
of Psalms was written under the special direction and 
guidance of God, so that what is there written is to be 
accepted and regarded as his own word to men. But 
let us also be careful not to undervalue this remarkable 
book, containing as it does the choicest and loftiest ex- 
pressions of devout souls for a thousand years or more. 
Every passion, every emotion, finds utterance here as in 
no other Oriental poetry. " There is nothing," says Dr. 
Clarke, in his " Ten Great Religions," — " there is nothing 
in the Vedas, nothing in the Avesta, nothing in the sacred 
books of Egypt, or the philosophy of Greece and Rome, 
which so unites the grandeur of Omnipotence with the 
tenderness of a father towards his child." " These songs," 
says Irving, " are as comprehensive as the human soul, and 
as varied as human life. This breadth of application they 
compass not by the sacrifice of lyrical propriety or poeti- 
cal method; for if there be poems strictly lyrical, these 
odes of a people despised as illiterate are such. For pure 
pathos and tenderness of heart ; for sublime imagination ; 
for touching pictures of natural scenery and genial sym- 
pathy with man's various moods ; for patriotism, whether 
in national weal or in national woe ; for beautiful imagery, 
whether derived from the relationships of human life or 
the forms of the created universe, and for the illustration, 
by their help, of spiritual conditions ; moreover, for those 



192 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

rapid transitions in which the lyrical muse delighteth, — 
her lightsome graces at one time, her deep and full in- 
spiration at another, her exuberance of joy and her lowest 
falls of grief ; and for every other form of the natural soul 
which is wont to be shadowed forth by this kind of com- 
position, we challenge anything to be produced from the 
literature of all ages and countries worthy to be compared 
with what we find given in the English version of the Book 
of Psalms." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 

Collections of short, pithy sentences, terse in form and 
pungent in both thought and expression, have been made 
by all nations, through all ages. Pythagoras spake pro- 
verbs for the Greeks ; Lokman, for the Arabs ; Odin, for 
the Scandinavians ; and " Poor Richard " (Franklin), for 
Americans. Ray made a large collection of English pro- 
verbs ; Caesar, of Roman ; Freytag, of Arabic ; and De 
Sacy, of Persian. But Davidson says, " In purity of prin- 
ciple the best of the old moralists are far surpassed by the 
writers whose sayings are incorporated in this work." 

This book is a collection of the sayings of wise Hebrews. 
Possibly some wise sayings of other people have found their 
way among them, as is the case with those of other nations. 



THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 1 93 

It is called the Proverbs of Solomon more commonly, be- 
cause he is supposed to have spoken many if not most of 
them. In i Kings iv. 32, he is said to have spoken " three 
thousand." 

Section I. — Divisions. 

The book is composed of five parts, perhaps of seven. 

1. The first part, i.-ix., is rather a continuous discourse 
on the supreme excellence of wisdom and the supreme 
folly of profligacy, than a series of disconnected proverbs. 
The parallelisms in this part are almost universally synony- 
mous. In the 8th chapter is a most remarkable personi- 
fication of wisdom. The whole of this part is rich with 
the wisest counsel and admonition. 

2. The second part, x.-xxii. 16, is entitled The Proverbs 
of Solomon, and contains four hundred and twenty-two 
real proverbs, of which three hundred and seventy-four 
have two lines each, and in x.-xv. are mostly antithetic. 
They are pithy and pungent to the last degree, and were 
probably not extemporaneous utterances, but carefully elab- 
orated, as appears from the fact that usually the first line 
in the Hebrew consists of four words and the second line 
of three words. It was not possible to translate them so 
tersely into English. From the 16th chapter to the end 
of this part the proverbs are for the most part synthetic, 
the second line only adding something to the idea con- 
tained in the first. 

3. The third part is short, xxii. 17-xxiv., and begins 
with a prosaic introduction, 17-21, exhorting to atten- 

13 



194 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

tion to what is said. The carelessness of the person or 
persons who divided this book into chapters is seen 
here by this division of parts in the middle of a chapter. 
The proverbs proper begin at the 2 2d verse. A para- 
graph seems to have been added, as xxiv. 23 reads, 
" These also are the words of the wise." This part is 
less regular than the second, and the proverbs are longer, 
usually consisting of four lines. 

4. The fourth part, xxv.-xxix., is said to consist of 
" the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, 
king of Judah, copied out." Here we have incidental 
proof of the saying of the historian, that Solomon wrote 
three thousand proverbs. These were probably " copied " 
from the book containing them. There are one hundred 
and twenty-eight proverbs, of which ninety-three are syn- 
thetic and thirty-five antithetic. These are more terse 
and apothegmatic than those in the third part, but less so 
than those in the second. 

5. The fifth part, xxx., contains the words of Agur, set- 
ting forth the supreme excellence and desirableness of 
true wisdom. It is very artificial in its construction, which 
blunts the pithiness of its sayings, introducing as illustra- 
tions three things and four with great formality. Who 
Agur was is known at this day no better by the collector's 
saying that he was the son of Jakeh, for of Jakeh we know 
nothing. 

6. The sixth part, xxxi. 1-9, is the merest fragment, 
and is entitled "the words given to King Lemuel; the 
prophecy which his mother taught him." It is well to 



THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 195 

note here the use of the word " prophecy " as synonymous 
with "exhortation" or "counsel," as is explained fully 
in the "Introduction to the Prophetical Books." Her 
exhortation is a most earnest protest against the use of 
wine and strong drink, and a plea to "judge righteously." 
It is to be hoped that " King Lemuel," whoever he was, 
was mindful of his mother's prophecy which she taught 
him. 

7. The seventh part, xxxi. 10-31, is a description of 
a good wife ; and the virtues, both positive and negative, 
which are said to signalize her, are admirable, — industry, 
modesty, wisdom, and the education of her children. A 
very delicate reference to her neatness and wifely attention 
is made : — 

" Her husband is known in the gates 
When he sitteth with the elders of the land," 

to act as judge among the people. She had seen that he 
was neatly dressed, every garment clean and comely ; so 
far forth she is an example to all ages. Precious relic of 
ancient wisdom and good taste ! 

Section II. — Morality and Inspiration, 

The morality of these proverbs is for the most part very 
high. No spirit of revenge is breathed in any of them, 
as in some of the psalms. Industry, modesty, economy, 
temperance in all things, are insisted upon with frequent 
iteration. Young and old, husbands and wives, will find 
instruction and reproof in this book. All appeals to 



196 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

regard the instruction of the book refer to success or 
failure in this life. There is no reference to a future 
state in the work. 

As far as authorship is concerned, I have already stated 
all that is known about it in noticing these different parts 
of the book. Many persons besides those named were 
undoubtedly engaged in its production. Yet it is safe to 
attribute a large part of the proverbs proper to Solomon 
either as the author or collector. The whole book was 
probably put into its present form after the return from 
the captivity, about 500 b. c. 

There is no evidence in the book or out of it that either 
the author of a proverb or proverbs, whoever he was, or 
the collector of the proverbs already spoken of, was in any 
degree under divine guidance, or inspired, in the usual ac- 
ceptation of that word. The "men of Hezekiah " selected, 
as any men would have selected, such proverbs as pleased 
them. x\nother set of men might have selected different 
ones. Where is the proof that Lemuel's mother had 
special divine guidance in exhorting her son to be tem- 
perate and wise ? There is nothing in the proverbs them- 
selves that indicates the special influence of the Spirit. 
We must be careful, however, not to undervalue this book 
because we have no proof that it is "the word of God." 
It is full of wise aphorisms to guide in a prudent life ; but 
prudence is the highest rule of life given in it. To go 
from the Sermon on the Mount to the Book of Proverbs 
for guidance in life is like forsaking the light of noon and 
feeling our way by the pale light of the stars. 



ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHER. 197 



CHAPTER V. 

ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHER. 

This is one of the most remarkable books in the Bible, 
as it is obviously the record of the doubts and disbeliefs, 
the perturbations and contradictions, of a sceptical mind, 
not a little soured apparently with his own mishaps as well 
as perplexed with the phenomena of life which yielded to 
no solution he could give in accordance with a belief of 
a just ruler, or even of any ruler at all. He had tried all 
methods of living, and found them unsatisfactory. He 
had tried every form of solution of the problem, and found 
them all inadequate ; and he leaves the mystery of life 
where Job and his three friends left it, — unsolved and 
inexplicable. Dr. Noyes says : " If I were to express 
the subject of the work in a single sentence, I should call 
it, 'Thoughts on the vanity of human life, interspersed 
with such maxims of prudence, virtue, and religion as will 
help a man to conduct himself in the best manner, and to 
obtain the greatest amount of happiness, in his journey 
through it ; ' or, to express the same general purpose in 
briefer terms, the insolvable enigmas of life, and how to 
make the best of it" 

Section I. — Style, 

The book cannot be called poetry, although it has 
always been placed among the poetical books. It is a 



198 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

poetic essay. Its style is terse and very obscure, and our 
translators seem to have been about as perplexed with it 
as the writer was with life. The first four chapters are 
purely speculative, the rest are preceptive. It is evident 
that the spirit of misanthropy more than the spirit of 
the Muse possessed the author. He is a most persistent 
grumbler. 

Section II. — Divisions. 

The book may be divided into four parts. 

1. The first part includes chapters i. and ii. Theo- 
retical wisdom is discussed in the first chapter and prac- 
tical in the second. But all this inquiry is declared to 
result only in "vanity and striving after wind." 

2. The second part includes chapters hi., iv., and v., 
and treats of the fickleness of all enjoyments, and the 
almost certainty of losing what you have gained. " Sore 
evils" stand out on every hand, and the "fool's voice" 
is lifted up everywhere. 

3. The third part (vi.-viii. 15) treats of the vanity of 
seeking riches and the true practical wisdom of life ; and 
yet it happeneth alike to the righteous and the wicked, so 
that prudence is of no avail. The sum of it is, " All is 
vanity. . . . Nothing is good for a man under the sun 
except to eat and drink and be joyful." 

4. The fourth part treats of the inco?igruities of life and 
nature, and gives some maxims for guidance among them 
(ix.-xii.) ; and yet the writer, having said his best and 
counselled his wisest, cries out, " Vanity of vanities, saith 
the Preacher; all is vanity." 



ECCLESIASTES, OR THE PREACHER. 1 99 

In the last six verses are a few words of conclusion of 
the whole book, in which the Preacher warns against 
speculating upon these mysterious problems, and wasting 
time by attempting to solve the insolvable, and affirms 
that the sum of the whole matter is contained in these 
words : " Fear God and keep his commandments ! " 

Section III. — Age and Authorship. 

Respecting the age and authorship of this strange 
book nothing certain is known. Good scholars have 
placed it all the way from Malachi to the Maccabees, 
from 400 b. c. to 1 70 b. c. My own impression is that 
it belongs to an age earlier instead of later than the time 
of Malachi, — about 400 b. c. 

That the writer, whoever he was, wrote in Solomon's 
name, is unquestionable ; and that he did so for rhetorical 
effect, is equally so. There are too many Chaldaisms to 
permit us to refer the authorship to Solomon, though 
there is nothing in the subject of the book which forbids 
his authorship. That he was as moody as this writer rep- 
resents him to have been, there is no reason to question ; 
but the evidence that Solomon was not the author is 
decisive. 

Section IV. — Motives and Inspiration. 

All the teachings of the book are based on merely 
prudential motives. No revelation of a future state is 
here made, nor is such a state implied in any passage. 



200 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

All "judgments " referred to are in this life, and retribu- 
tion is here. A few passages in the Common Version 
appear to assert or imply it, but such an interpretation of 
them is wrong. 

There is no evidence that the writer of this sceptical 
book was inspired. He neither claims it for himself, nor 
does any other sacred writer claim it for him. He is a 
Hebrew, perplexed with the problem of life, and, declar- 
ing that having swept the heavens and sounded the seas 
he can find no solution of it, surrenders the subject 
in despair. The book has no claim to be called the 
" word of God," nor does it make any such claim. 
Presumptuous men of more recent times have ventured 
to make our Heavenly Father responsible for the bitter- 
ness and misanthropy of this ancient grumbler. It is 
time that common sense took the place of this very 
prevalent and misleading opinion. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 

This peculiar book is called in Hebrew " The Song of 
Songs, by Solomon ; " that is, the most excellent song. 
I call it peculiar, because its subject and mode of treat- 
ment are peculiar. It is on the face of it an amatory poem, 
dramatic in its form. Possibly it was a Hebrew musical 



THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 201 

entertainment, — what would now be called an operetta, 
a little play for domestic entertainment. " Ten songs are 
sung in the world," says the Targum, " but this song is 
the most excellent of them all." It is very difficult to di- 
vide it into separate parts or acts, and specify the parts 
taken by each person engaged in performing it. Dr. 
Noyes makes thirteen parts, others fewer, and others none ; 
but I think that some divisions which have been made 
are correct. That it was written to be acted, and sung 
while being acted, seems to me very probable. 

Section I. — Arrangeme?it, Subject, and Plot. 

I think it may gratify some readers to have the arrange- 
ment of Dr. Noyes inserted here. It will, at all events, 
give some idea of what is meant when this book is spoken 
of as a dramatic, amatory operetta. Before doing it, how- 
ever, it may be well to state what the subject of the poem 
is, and the plot, — if plot it may be called. 

The subject of the poem is Human Love, which is illus- 
trated by the fidelity of a rural maiden or wife to her 
lover or husband, when tempted by King Solomon to 
break her vow of espousal or marriage, — for it is not 
clear that marriage had yet taken place, — and become 
one of his wives. 

The plot of the poem is as follows : " A rural maiden, 
named the Shulamite, harshly treated by her brothers, 
just espoused, or married, to a young man, a companion 
from her childhood, is carried forcibly to the royal resi- 



202 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

dence of Solomon." The great and amorous monarch 
tries to win her to join his harem, by entreaties, blandish- 
ments, praises, — preferring her to all his women. She 
resists them all, rejects the regal overtures and courtly 
robes and jewels, and remains constant to her betrothed 
or husband, from whom she was taken, and most passion- 
ately pleads to be restored to her humble home and him. 
The proud king at last yields to her imploring request and 
permits her to depart and once more enjoy the society of 
her rustic bridegroom, or her beloved husband, whose 
praises she had sung so heartily. 

" Part I. The maiden, with a company of ladies in Jeru- 
salem, passionately desires to see her lover. The maiden 
speaks, chap. i. 1-7 ; then the ladies, verse 8. 

" Part II. Conversation between the maiden and a lover, 
chap. i. 9-ii. 7 : lover, i. 9, 10, it ; maiden, 12, 13, 14; 
lover, 15 ; maiden, 16, 17, chap. ii. 1 ; lover, 2 ; maiden, 

3> 4, 5> 6 '> lover > 7- 

" Part III. The maiden meeting her lover in the vine- 
yard : maiden, chap. ii. 8-17. 

" Part IV. The maiden searches for her lover : maiden, 
chap. iii. 1-4 ; lover, 5. 

" Part V. Conducting the maiden to Solomon's palace, 
chap. iii. 6-1 1. 

" Part VI. Conversation between a lover and maiden, 
chap, iv.-v. 1 : lover, 1-15 ; maiden, 16 ; lover, v. 1. 

" Part VII. Maiden searches for her lover by night and 
praises his beauty, v. 2-vi. 2 : maiden, v. 2-8 ; ladies, 9 ; 
maiden, 10-16; ladies, vi. 1 ; maiden, 2-3. 



THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 203 

" Part VIII. The lover praises his beloved, chap. vi. 4-9. 

" Part IX. A conversation between a lover and maiden 
and ladies, vi. 10-viii. 4 : lover, verse 10 ; maiden, 11, 12 ; 
ladies, first half of 13 ; maiden, last half of 13 ; lover, vii. 
1-9, to l best wine * ; maiden, rest of 9— viii. 3 ; lover. 4. 

" Part X. Chorus of ladies, maiden and lover, viii. 5-7 : 
ladies, 5, to ' beloved ' ; maiden, rest of 5-7. 

" Part XI. Two brothers talk together about their sister 
and her remarks, chap. viii. 8-12. 

"Part XII. The lover sent away, viii. 13, 14. This 
appears like a fragment. Lover, 13 ; maiden, 14. The 
meaning is not clear. The lover asks the maiden to sing 
(13), and in verse 14 she seems to tell him to flee away, 
declining to sing." 

Thus the fidelity of love in betrothed or wedded humble 
life is strikingly illustrated. We may have only an imper- 
fect sketch of the little play, but as it stands we can easily 
see how impressive it would be if acted with such scenery 
as might have been furnished in the flourishing days of 
the kingdom. I do not think that this failure of Solomon 
in all his glory to retain the pretty rustic maiden would 
have prevented his enjoying it, had it be enacted before 
him. However, there is no conclusive proof that it was 
written in his age, but much to the contrary. 

Section II. — Age and Author. 

The age of this little pastoral is unknown, but there is 
pretty good reason to date it before the captivity. Nothing 



204 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

whatever is known of its authorship. The earliest tradition 
attributes it to Solomon himself, and this supposed author- 
ship may be the reason why it was received into the Bible. 

It is no more than just to the reader to say that various 
opinions have been entertained and advocated respecting 
the real object of this song. The purpose which appears 
at first sight has not been always, and far from universally, 
received respecting it. It has been interpreted as an al- 
legory, and as an allegory it has been applied to very many 
subjects. Solomon and wisdom have been supposed to 
be allegorized ; so also Jehovah and the Jews, and God 
and the soul, and Christ and the Church. This last has 
been the favorite view of most Christian writers. It seemed 
incredible that a drama, though pure, devoted to human 
love, could have found a place in the Bible ; and therefore 
some other meaning and purpose than the most obvious 
one must have been intended by the writer. But all these 
various conjectures originated in an entirely false view of 
the origin and purpose of the Hebrew Scriptures. I rejoice 
that we have had preserved to us this charming fragment 
of Hebrew amatory poetry. It opens to us a new depart- 
ment of Hebrew literature, and gives us glimpses of novel 
entertainments among that ancient and peculiar people. 

We must remember, as we read it, that it is poetry, and 
moreover that it is written in the warm, sensuous language 
employed by Oriental poets when treating such a theme. 
The bounds of Occidental taste are overpassed very fre- 
quently ; but there is no baseness in the passion expressed, 
no grossness in the persons described. 



THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 205 

It is hardly necessary to say that there is not a shadow 
of evidence that this is an inspired work, to be called 
the " word of God." Our translators believed that these 
impassioned conversations took place, or are represented 
as taking place, between Christ and the Church, and pre- 
pared headings to all the chapters, and running explana- 
tions at the top of the page, to correspond with that view. 
The 7th chapter, for example, is said to be "a further 
description of the Church's graces " ! A few years ago, 
scholars of ripest learning and unquestionable orthodoxy 
were appointed by the American Bible Society to examine 
their editions of the Bible and report what changes were 
necessary. They reported among other things a change 
in these headings, so that they would refer to a maiden 
and her lover, and then the heading just quoted would 
read, "The bride's graces further described." The So- 
ciety refused to adopt the report, and cancelled the plates 
on which the edition was printed, and the edition itself ! 
Such hindrances are thrown in the way of a correct knowl- 
edge of the Bible. We ought to be grateful that intelli- 
gence is spreading so fast that the people will be beguiled 
by a Protestant no more than by a Catholic priesthood. 
We should hail with joy the Revised Version, which omits 
all the "headings" and "explanations" that refer the sub- 
ject of this book to Christ and his Church. 1 

1 A writer in the " Andover Review," June, 1885, says: "The poem is a 
dramatic composition, setting forth the fidelity to her shepherd lover of a country 
maiden of great beauty, whom Solomon had caused to be introduced into his 
harem, and the final triumph of her constancy over the blandishments of the 
king." 



PART VI. 
THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 



PART VI. 
THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Section I. — The Prophetic Office. 

The prophets of the Old Testament were the great 
reformers of the age in which they lived. They were 
poets, orators, and singers, both male and female ; and 
they addressed the people in prose or poetry or song, 
as the occasion demanded or the spirit impelled. But 
few of their writings have come down to us ; and it is 
probable that most of their addresses and chants were 
never written, but were extemporaneous utterances of the 
pent-up feelings of their hearts. Enough of their writings, 
however, remain to enable us to judge very correctly of 
their topics, style, spirit, and influence. 

We find, as we read them, that these reformers were 
not equally richly endowed or of equally wide influ- 
ence as orators or poets. The style of Ezekiel differs 
widely from that of Isaiah, both in loftiness and refine- 

14 



2IO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS.. 

ment; so does that of Jeremiah from that of Amos. 
Indeed, these old prophets differ from one another as the 
great modern reformers differ, — Luther from Melanch- 
thon, and Calvin from both; or as Knox differed from 
Wesley, and Fox from both. Some of them poured 
forth the torrent of their indignation like the swellings 
of Jordan ; and from some sympathy distilled like the 
dew on Hermon. The speech of some of them was like 
the thunders of Sinai, and that of others was like the 
still small voice which Elijah heard among its cliffs. 
While their subject was always the same, the method 
of treatment was very different. The absolute supremacy 
of Jehovah, the omnipotence of righteousness, the ruin 
which would follow transgression, the prosperity which 
would follow obedience, — these were the themes of their 
discourses, the grand principles wmich pervaded and gave 
power to their addresses, clothed as they were with all 
the gorgeous imagery which Oriental scenery and the 
Oriental imagination could furnish. 

There were false prophets then, as now, who sold their 
services for place or pelf, and cried, " Peace, peace ! " 
when there was no peace ; who claimed that prosperity 
in disobedience either proved that Jehovah was indifferent 
to evil conduct or did not observe it, and not that it 
evinced his patience and long-suffering with a rebellious 
people. 

History repeats itself. Human nature is the same in 
all ages. There were prophets of Baal and prophets of 
Jehovah then, as there are now, and ever will be while 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 211 

there is a wrong to be redressed or a right to be strength- 
ened ; and the prophets of the Lord met the same treat- 
ment then that reformers of abuses meet to-day. The 
more gigantic the wrong, the more desperate is its defence, 
the more persecuted are its assailants. As the prophets 
were of the people, forming no class, no caste, having no 
hereditary rights like the priests, they looked solely to the 
welfare of the people, and denounced in unmeasured 
language all attempts at domination by any caste, all ex- 
altation of ritualism above righteousness by the priesthood. 
From Samuel to Malachi, the prophets proclaimed to 
the priesthood that " to obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken than the fat of rams." When the people 
attempted to avert the just judgments of the Lord for 
their sins by fastings and ashes and sackcloth, Isaiah an- 
nounced to them the better way, — that of dealing their 
bread to the hungry, and giving shelter to the outcast 
poor and raiment to the naked, and undoing the heavy 
burdens. And when Micah saw the altars heaped with 
the choicest of the flock to atone for sin and win forgive- 
ness, he exclaimed, " What doth the Lord thy God require 
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk 
humbly with thy God?" Not more startling were the 
anathemas of George Fox in the ears of the ceremonious 
churchmen of his day, than these words were in the ears 
of the priestly formalists of Israel. 

These prophets were the leaders of the party of prog- 
ress. Monarchs as well as priests feared them. They 
overthrew dynasties and crowned kings. When the 



212 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

despicable sons of Eli defiled the rites of religion and were 
slain for their impiety, and when the tribal independence 
had proved a failure and the people were in a state of 
anarchy, Samuel, the prophet-statesman, established a 
central government, and anointed Saul king. But the 
moment Saul attempted to act as above law, his anointer 
deposed his family and enthroned David. Nathan, the 
great prophet in the reign of David and the historian of 
his reign, transferred the succession from Adonijah, David's 
eldest son, to Solomon. At the death of Solomon the 
prophet Ahijah attempted to change the succession from 
Rehoboam to Jeroboam, and thereby sundered the king- 
dom. Ten tribes revolted, and Jeroboam became their 
king j and thus arose the kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam 
erected altars, established a priesthood chosen from the 
priestly revolters, and partially observed a mutilated ritual 
of Moses. The influence of Isaiah with Uzziah and Heze- 
kiah, and that of Jeremiah with Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin, 
are fully recorded. They boldly denounced the judgments 
of Heaven against the sins of the proudest and strongest 
of the kings of Israel and of Judah. 

These preachers of reform soon became numerous, and 
scattered themselves among the people. The names of 
but few have survived, — Ahijah and Iddo, the historian 
as well as prophet, Obadiah, Micaiah, and Oded, and 
chief of all, Elijah and Elisha. As the violation of the 
law was most common and idolatry most prevalent in 
the northern kingdom, we find the true prophets, as 
well as the false, most active there. In the kingdom of 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 213 

Judah the prophets appear to have been fewer during 
this period, and hence fewer names have come down 
to us. Only those of Azariah, Hanani, and Eliezer are 
preserved. 

When the kingdom of Israel was threatened with cap- 
tivity, the prophets were roused to great activity, and the 
writings as well as the names of some of them have sur- 
vived. Joel, Amos, and Hosea prophesied at this time. 
In the kingdom of Judah the great prophets Isaiah, Micah, 
Nahum, and Zechariah delivered their messages in words 
of flame. And when the southern kingdom was tottering 
to its fall, Zephaniah and Habakkuk and Obadiah and the 
noble Jeremiah all exhorted and promised and denounced 
in vain. The storm burst. The nation was swept away. 
Jerusalem became a heap. Ezekiel cheered the exiles with 
visions of restoration. Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi 
encouraged the hearts of the delivered exiles to restore 
their homes and their temple and to re-establish their 
ritual, prophesying of brighter days and wider influence in 
the latter times. 

Such is a glimpse of the office and work of the prophets 
among the Hebrews. Samuel, who may be said to be the 
leader of the line of the prophets, was as stern, as severe, 
as puritanic as Cromwell, and much like him. Malachi, 
the last of the long line of those whose names and writings 
are found in the Bible, was serene, sympathetic, devout, 
like John Wesley, and caught glimpses of the dawning of 
the perfect day. To the beneficent and powerful influ- 
ence of these great men upon the Hebrew nation, and 



214 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

hence upon the destinies of the human race, such writers 
as John Stuart Mill and Bunsen abundantly testify. 
Mill says (Representative Government, pp.41, 42) : 

" The prophets were a power in the nation, often more 
than a match for kings and priests, and kept up, in that little 
corner of the earth, the antagonism of influences which is the 
only real security for continued progress. Religion, conse- 
quently, was not there — what it has been in so many other 
places — a consecration of all that was once established, and 
a barrier against further improvement. The remark of a dis- 
tinguished Hebrew, that the prophets were, in Church and 
State the equivalent of the modern liberty of the press, gives 
a just but not an adequate conception of the part fulfilled in 
national and universal history by this great element of Jewish 
life, by means of which the persons most eminent in genius 
and moral feeling could not only denounce and reprobate, 
with the direct authority of the Almighty, whatever appeared 
to them deserving of such treatment, but could give forth 
better and higher interpretations of the national religions 
which henceforth became a part of all religion. . . . Accord- 
ingly the Jews, instead of being stationary like other Asiatics, 
were, next to the Greeks, the most progressive people of 
antiquity, and jointly with them have been the starting-point 
and main propelling agency of modern cultivation." 

Bunsen says : — 

" They were not only prophets of their nation, but of 
humanity. . . . They educated not only their own generation, 
but all succeeding ones. They were not, however, exempted 
from human frailty and national contractedness. They were 
moreover like ourselves in all the variety of personal gifts 
and deficiencies. But they had a divine mission and noble 
impulse, which carried them into a higher strain and sphere 
than prosaic mortals reach." 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 21 5 



Section II. — Qualifications for the Prophetic Work. 

The first requisite for this work of the prophet was flu- 
ency of speech. His work as a public speaker made this 
essential, and it is fully illustrated in the relation of Moses 
and Aaron. When Moses was directed to go into Egypt, 
rouse his people from the stupidity of servitude, and lead 
them forth from bondage, he remonstrated against attempt- 
ing the great work, saying, " I am not eloquent, or a man 
of words ; but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue ; " 
and Aaron his brother, who could speak well, was ap- 
pointed to be his spokesman and a mouth unto Moses. 
And when Moses returned to Egypt and was directed to 
go to the palace and speak to Pharaoh the great king, and 
ask the deliverance of his people, he again remonstrated, 
saying, " I am of uncircumcised lips," that is, a poor 
speaker, " and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me ? " And 
the Lord said unto Moses, " See, I have made thee a god 
to Pharaoh, and thy brother Aaron shall be thy prophet 
[spokesman]. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, 
and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh." 

As the prophet was to address the people, it was of 
vital importance that he should be a good speaker. Indeed, 
this is one meaning, if not the prime meaning, of our word 
" prophet " as commonly used two hundred years ago. 
A preacher was said to prophesy when he delivered his 
sermon. The Hebrew word Nabi, which is translated 
prophet, signifies primarily " to bubble, to boil over ; " 



2l6 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

and when used of a public speaker, means pouring forth 
words, speaking with great fervor and fluency. So that in 
modern speech Moses might be called the thinker and 
Aaron the orator. Moses prepared the brief, so to speak, 
and Aaron addressed the jury. 

This signification of the word " prophet " is confirmed 
by its application to singers who fervently and forcibly 
utter their words. Miriam, the sister of Aaron, is called 
a prophetess on account of her musical skill. Deborah 
is also called a prophetess, very probably for the same 
reason, as she was both a poet and a singer. In later 
years we read of other women who were prophetesses, but 
of whose special gifts we have no account. Probably they 
were public speakers as well as singers and poets. 

Section III. — Schools of the Prophets. 

The people depended for a long period upon the gifts 
of uneducated persons, and no special pains were taken 
to prepare those whose natural talents for speaking gave 
promise of usefulness in this profession. But the great 
statesman and reformer, Samuel, felt the need of a higher 
class of public speakers and leaders of the people in their 
assemblies to consult for the public good, and established 
" schools " in which young men might be educated as 
speakers and singers and musicians. A school was opened 
at Ramah, at Bethel, at Jericho, and at Gilgal. It is 
very probable, since the use of musical instruments is so 
often mentioned in connection with prophesying, that the 






GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 21/ 

prophets chanted, or uttered in musical intonations, many 
of their messages. From the days of Samuel to those of 
Malachi the people were never destitute of educated 
teachers. 

As the political institutions of the Hebrews were based 
upon their religious institutions, these schools were more 
like our modern theological schools than any other of 
our institutions of learning. The prophets were also 
writers. The histories of the reigns of the kings during 
which they lived are their work, and no doubt this depart- 
ment of education received the attention of the students 
in these schools. 

The method of life in the schools of the prophets was 
simple, and the garments and diet of the students were of 
the plainest kind. The luscious fruit of the vine and fig- 
tree satisfied their hunger, and the shadow of the palm-tree 
shielded them from the fervors of noon. When the sun 
had set and the day's studies were over, they took their 
tabrets and pipes and harps and cymbals, and went forth 
with music and song and rhythmic step or dance to enjoy 
the glories of the heavens and the riches of the earth. 
Electrifying music was heard ; and the excitement of the 
dance was such that spectators would catch the enthusiasm 
and join the animated procession. 

These students were from no particular tribe or family, 
as were the priests, but from all tribes and all families. 
There was no respect of persons shown in them. 

It must not be understood, however, that all the prophets 
of the nation were educated in these schools, any more 



2l8 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

than that all preachers are educated in our theological 
schools. Some of the old prophets, as some of our modern 
preachers, possessed and carried away with a fiery zeal to 
reform abuses and sustain right and proclaim the truth of 
God as they understood it, left their occupations as me- 
chanics, vine- dressers, shepherds, and lifted up their voices 
like trumpets, showing to Israel their transgressions, and 
the house of Jacob their sins. Kings trembled, unjust 
judges turned pale, and gormandizing priests hid them- 
selves at their words of indignant rebuke. Amos was one 
of these, — a George Fox among the fat priesthood and 
lying prophets ; and others like him burst the bonds of 
custom and became leaders of the people. 

Section IV. — The Style of the Prophets, and the Import of 
Certain Formularies which they prefix to their Addresses. 

The word " prophet," as we have seen, has no reference 
to the authority of the speaker or the special subject of 
his address, or whether he intones or sings it, accompany- 
ing its delivery with a musical instrument. The theme of 
his discourse may refer to the past, present, or future ; it 
may be historical, moral, or religious ; it may be didactic, 
hortatory, or consolatory, or all of these. Neither time 
nor topic is indicated by the word " prophecy." " Ety- 
mologically," says Professor Meyrick, of Trinity College, 
Oxford, " it is certain that neither prescience nor predic- 
tion is implied by the term used in the Hebrew or Greek." 
As I have said, the word "prophecy " in English had no 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 219 

such meaning till recently. Webster says, " In Scripture, 
prophesy means to preach ; to instruct in religious doc- 
trine ; to interpret and explain Scripture or religious sub- 
jects ; to exhort." Jeremy Taylor wrote a celebrated 
treatise on the "Liberty of Prophesying," in which he 
maintained the freedom of the pulpit. But the word as 
now popularly used means the prediction of future events, 
which leads the reader of the prophetical writings of the 
Bible far astray. There is very little more prediction of 
future events in them than there is in the sermons of mod- 
ern preachers. Very few if any of their predictions are 
more definite or specific, as we shall see when we read 
them. Great wrong has been done to these admirable 
preachers of righteousness by modern ambitious interpret- 
ers of their sermons. History has been searched as with 
a candle to find the fulfilment of prophecies which related 
to contemporaneous events, and the language of the grand 
old preacher has been tortured by a false criticism into a 
meaning which the prophet never dreamed of. All this 
is a grievous mistake. The prophets addressed the men of 
their own generation ; and the theme of their addresses was 
the duties and the perils of their own age. 

As I have already said, these prophets were religious 
teachers j and the motives of religion are presented as 
the life of the civil institutions of the nation. Hence the 
language of religion is everywhere used. As Jehovah was 
the head of the nation, he is represented as personally 
directing all its affairs. A prophet was therefore an inter- 
preter of the divine will, and spake as if speaking the mind 



220 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

and will of God. And indeed he was speaking them as 
he understood them. So strong and deep is his convic- 
tion of the truth of what he is saying as representing God's 
will and purpose, that he does not hesitate, in the bold, 
poetic language of the East, to announce that his words 
are the words of the Lord, and that his message is the 
Lord's message to the people. The Lord is said to speak 
by the prophets and through them, because they unfolded 
and illustrated his purposes and law as they understood it. 
They are said to be filled with the spirit of the Lord, as 
eminent preachers are to-day said to be filled with the 
spirit of Christ. When men feel a constraining, overmas- 
tering impulse to speak or to act, they are to this day, in 
the language of religion, of piety, said to be called of God 
to speak or to act. This is what the old prophets meant 
when they said that the Lord called them, the Lord took 
them. They interpreted this constraining, overmastering 
impulse as indicating the will of God, and so declared ; as 
pious people say to-day — it is a proverb with us, even in 
our cold Occidental style of speech — that " the voice of 
conscience is the voice of God." There are multitudes 
of ministers of the present day who speak as confidently 
as do these old prophets of their call from God to preach 
the gospel. How much more is intended and proved, if 
any more, in the one case than in the other, must be 
learned from an examination of the sermons or prophecies 
themselves, and from the lives of the ancient preachers. 
But this is evident : the simple use of such expressions as 
" called of God," " sent of God," " man of God," " speak- 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 221 

ing the word of the Lord," " the Lord says," proves 
nothing respecting any special revelation of truth to their 
minds, or their inspiration, in the popular sense of that 
word. It is especially of vital importance to remember 
that the chief business of these prophets was not foretell- 
ing events, but exhorting, entreating, persuading to cleave 
to Jehovah, and depicting the sad consequences which 
would fall upon both the individual and the nation, as de- 
clared in their law, if they deserted him and followed 
after other gods. Whether they foretold any events with 
such specific exactness as to prove direct revelation from 
Heaven, can be determined only by an examination of 
their writings. 

Section V. — The Method a?id Style of Prophetic 
Teaching. 

The root of the Hebrew word Nabi, which is translated 
"prophet," signifies, as I have said, "boiling up," "bub- 
bling up," " effervescing," " overflowing, as a spring over- 
flows, or a caldron boils over." In Psalm xli. the wri- 
ter says, as our translation represents him, " My heart 
is inditing a good matter," — which is a very tame ex- 
pression to introduce the wedding ode of a king. The 
poet-laureate is guilty of no such platitude as that. " My 
heart is boiling over with congratulations," he exclaims. 
This expresses something. 

Not only does the prophet's name indicate to us his 
method of speaking as enthusiastic and earnest in the 



222 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

extreme, but the descriptions which we have of his manner 
tell us that he was frantic with emotion, and not seldom 
quickened and inflamed his passion with a musical ac- 
companiment. The modern fakirs and dervishes are not 
more delirious in their addresses than were these old 
preacher-prophets on some occasions. The least edu- 
cated of the prophets gave themselves up most com- 
pletely to the power of their emotions ; and hence in the 
earlier periods of the Jewish history we find that this class 
of speakers was the most frantic and delirious. The un- 
educated preachers in our border settlements and among 
the Southern negroes speak or vociferate with almost 
maniacal fury, incoherency, and final exhaustion. These 
infatuated camp-meeting preachers " boil over," they 
rave, they stamp with their feet, they beat their breasts 
with their fists, they smite their hands together, they leap 
from the ground, they frequently fall in convulsions ; and 
the people, agitated with the preacher's agitation, shout, 
leap, and also fall in convulsions. 

In the early period of the Hebrew nation, when the 
released slaves of Egypt had not learned the use of free- 
dom or the value of knowledge, the prophets spoke in 
the same manner, and in like ignorance attributed their 
physical and mental excitement to a divine impulse. 
This was to be expected. These advocates of truth and 
righteousness, these rebukers of wrong and injustice, these 
sustainers of the worship of the true God against idolatry, 
spoke as they could, — the coarse, coarsely ; the refined, 
purely ; the educated, reasonably. And even in the later 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 223 

years of the nation, when tyrants and idolaters were on 
the throne, and gluttonous priests served at heathen altars 
or dared to defile by their presence the altar of Jehovah, 
these heroic prophets, all on fire with indignation at such 
desecration of both the throne and the altar, their hearts 
" boiling over " with enthusiasm for the cause of truth 
and righteousness, spoke in words of flame, their eyes 
flashing, their bodies convulsed. Human nature, had it 
done less under such circumstances, would have been 
false to itself. 

Now that I have described their manner of speaking, 
their oratory, I must say something of the style of their 
addresses, their rhetoric. 

As these prophets spoke under the influence of deep 
emotion, we should expect their style would assume the 
emotional, the poetic form. And we find that it does. 
With the exception of the prophecy attributed to Daniel, 
portions of the prophecy of Jeremiah, and a large por- 
tion of that of Ezekiel, the works of the prophets which 
have come down to us are in poetry. Now the very es- 
sence of poetry is its symbolic, figurative style of rep- 
resenting ideas. Hardly a literal expression is found in 
some poems. Personification, comparison, metaphor, 
apostrophe, hyperbole, abound in them. Everything 
speaks, acts, instructs ; a living spirit pervades all things. 
Poetry transfigures the catacomb into a cathedral, and the 
mute forms of the dead into worshippers. The amount 
and boldness of this imagery varies with varying nationali- 
ties. Among the Orientals this imagery is so bold, so 



224 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

daring, as to seem to us Occidentals the merest extrava- 
ganza, and in the warmer latitudes it partakes of the 
gaudiness and luxuriance of the vegetation. It is there 
rather effeminate than masculine, and reminds one more 
of a collection of colored confectionery than of precious 
stones. The Hebrew poetry, however, is rubies, and sap- 
phires, and emeralds. There is body as well as color. 
There is truth sublimer than the imagery. The majestic 
lines are weighted with thoughts more majestic ; and as the 
prophet is as devout as he is poetic, he sees the divine 
agency not only in all the processes of nature but in all 
the events of history. Jehovah not only causes the " grass 
to grow for the cattle, and herb for the sendee of man," 
but he " plucketh up and planteth nations ; " he raiseth 
up and he casteth down kings ; he buildeth up their walls 
or casteth down cities. All things are attributed to his 
direct agency ; man's agency is nothing. He rides upon 
the whirlwind and directs the storm, and also "turneth 
the hearts of men as the rivers of water are turned." 

The glowing gorgeousness of the Hebrew prophetic 
poetry is not its only characteristic. The prophetic 
writings abound with symbols, dreams, visions, allegories, 
and parables. Whether these dreams and visions, allego- 
ries and symbols, were realities, or rhetorical devices to 
render the message of the prophet impressive and effec- 
tive, can be determined only by a critical examination of 
their writings. There is certainly no reason to suppose 
that the warm and rich imagination of these Oriental 
speakers and writers would hesitate to use such rhetorical 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 225 

aids, when we, of much cooler and tamer imagination, do 
the same thing. 

John Bunyan relates the long and eventful journey of 
Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City 
as seen by him in a dream. And the fiery preacher Whit- 
field was accustomed to put on his judgment cap and per- 
sonate the Almighty in the day of judgment, as he called 
the sinners before him. Why then should not Isaiah ex- 
claim, " I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted 
up, and the train of his royal robe filled the Temple. . . . 
Then I said, Woe is me ! . . . Then flew one of the sera- 
phim unto me having a live coal in his hand ; and he laid it 
upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips ; 
and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged " ? 
Why might not Ezekiel say, " I looked, a?id behold a whirl- 
wind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infold- 
ing itself . . . and out of the midst of it came the likeness 
of four living creatures, and above the likeness of a firma- 
ment as crystal ; . . . and above this firmament the like- 
ness of a man, clothed with brightness as the glory of the 
Lord " ? Why might they not say this when they wished 
to describe the enthroned majesty of Jehovah, and yet not 
intend to be understood literally as speaking of a real robe, 
and coal, and whirlwind, and cloud, and fire, and living 
creatures, and firmament? 

We are much less liable to mistake the prophets when 
they clothe the truth which they would proclaim in alle- 
gories and parables, than when they impart it in the guise 
of dreams and visions. Indeed, there is very little danger 

!5 



226 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

of our mistaking an allegory or a parable for a real trans- 
action. When Isaiah says, " I will sing a song of my be- 
loved touching his vineyard," and then goes on to describe 
the preparation of the ground, the enclosure, the planting, 
the wine-press, the watch-tower, no sensible interpreter 
would mistake its being imaginary, as illustrating the re- 
lation of the nation to God, even if the prophet had not 
himself so interpreted it. And when we bear in mind the 
warmer and more daring imagination of the Orientals, we 
shall not be surprised at the boldness and minuteness of 
some of these rhetorical devices. 

More startling and striking are the symbols which these 
preachers of righteousness introduced into their discourses. 
Zedekiah presents himself to the kings, Ahab and Jehosha- 
phat, with iron horns, to represent their conquest over the 
Syrians. Isaiah appears without his mantle and sandals 
(said to be " naked "), to signify the laying waste of Egypt. 
Ezekiel cuts his hair from his head, burns one part, cuts in 
pieces another, and scatters the third to the winds, to illus- 
trate the destruction of two parts of the people and the 
dispersion of the third part, and carries his goods into the 
street to show that the captivity of the nation is near. 
Jeremiah puts a yoke on his neck to represent the servitude 
of the nation ; then breaks it to denote its liberation. 

Some of the symbols introduced by the prophets are 
described only, not performed. Jeremiah speaks of making 
a long journey to the river Euphrates to bury his girdle, 
and then of going a long time after to dig it up, all de- 
cayed, that he may illustrate the captivity of the nation. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 227 

Ezekiel speaks of lying on his side upon the ground be- 
fore a tile for three hundred and ninety days to illustrate 
the siege of the city. Now it is evident, from the history 
of the prophet's whereabouts and his acts connected with 
them, that neither of these things was ever done. Whether 
a symbol is really acted or only described must be deter- 
mined by the nature of the symbol and the attendant 
circumstances. If a prophet says he was commanded to 
lie three hundred and ninety days on one side, and also 
that he obeyed the voice of the Lord, and yet we find him 
the next day or next week travelling about exhorting the 
people and rebuking kings, we know that the symbol 
was described, but not acted. Then there are some sym- 
bols introduced which could not have been acted without 
the grossest criminality, even the description of which our 
Christian culture would have most peremptorily forbidden. 
There are but few of them, however. The distasteful and 
repulsive symbols are but as spots on the sun. The sur- 
passing beauty and vigor of the style and themes of these 
Hebrew poet-preachers enrobe the shadows with light. 
The luxuriant imagination of the Orient glows through all 
their writings. The vehemence of Oriental passion flames 
through all their delivery. The enthusiasm of their man- 
ner, the weight of their matter, and the symbolism of their 
dress and action impressed the hearts of the people as the 
seal impresses the wax. Sometimes their words distil as 
the gentle dew upon the tender herb, as the small rain 
upon the mown grass. Again their periods of rebuke, 
remonstrance, and warning roll on like the swellings of 



228 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Jordan and the torrents of Gilead. Sometimes their speech 
has the fragrance of the rose of Sharon and the purity of 
the lily of the valley ; and again it is as the storm which 
breaks the cedars of Lebanon, and causes the wilderness 
of Kadesh to tremble. Sometimes these prophets dare 
the empyrean in their flight, and unveil the sapphire throne, 
the bowed seraphim, and the Eternal Presence. 

Section VI. — The Fundamental Principle of both Morals 
and Religion, National Security and National Thrift, 
on which the Prophets based all their Teachings. 

The prophets were patriots as well as preachers of 
righteousness ; or rather they were preachers of righteous- 
ness because they were patriots. A God of justice ruled 
their nation, and all nations. Hence the patriot-prophet 
announced that righteousness, not compromising with in- 
justice, exalteth a nation ; and that unrighteousness, not a 
steadfast adherence to what is right, will as surely if not 
as suddenly destroy a nation as an invading army or an 
influx of the sea. Politicians dream that because punish- 
ment against an evil work is not speedily executed it will 
never come. The prophet knew that however long de- ' 
layed retribution might be, the sword of justice would yet 
leap from its scabbard, the waste would cover a fruitful 
land, and ruins mark the site of proud and populous 
cities. Against all political trimmers and demagogues 
who compromise with unrighteousness these old prophets 
set their faces like a flint and lifted up their voices like a 






GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 229 

trumpet. In the presence of idols and their worshippers 
they proclaimed that there was but one God, and that 
righteousness was the one and supreme law of nations. 
What was right they maintained against all threats of 
people and priest, of king and warriors. 

The prophet was, therefore, a statesman. Knowing 
the supreme will of his sovereign, he knew what was the 
supreme good. There was no national security but in 
national integrity. Not numbers, but virtue, was strength : 
not riches, but righteousness, was wealth. It was the 
prophetic spirit which inspired Ambrose when he shut 
the doors of the church against the Emperor Theodosius. 
It was the prophetic spirit that inspired Hildebrand to 
compel Henry IV. to spend three days in midwinter, clad 
in a penitent's garment and barefooted, at the gate of the 
Castle of Canossa. Bishop Ken by the death-bed of the 
licentious Charles II. reminds us of Isaiah by the bedside 
of the dying Hezekiah. Savonarola denouncing with all 
the fiery energy of his great soul the sins of the proud, 
rich, luxurious city of Florence, reminds us of the light- 
ning utterance of Nahum when he prophesied against 
Nineveh. The vehement denunciations of Queen Mary 
by Knox; the defiant utterances of Luther against the 
" scarlet woman ; " the sublime announcement of Charles 
Sumner on the floor of the Senate of the United States, 
and of Samuel J. May from his pulpit in Syracuse, that 
they would not obey the fugitive-slave law, were inspired 
by the same spirit, were in obedience to the same prin- 
ciple, which compelled Daniel to say to the great king, 



230 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

when all knees were bent in homage, " Be it known to 
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship 
the golden image which thou hast set up." The supreme 
court of appeal was divine, not human. "To the law 
and to the testimony;" if human enactments agree not 
with this word, then light is darkness. 

In advocating justice and rebuking unrighteousness, 
these prophet- statesmen were no respecters of persons. 
Their trumpet voice was lifted up against rustic as well as 
regal sins. Priests as well as people shrank from their 
rebuke. The all-pervading principle running through the 
prophecies like a silver thread is, that the law of God 
is supreme above all other law, and that only obedience to 
this law will give permanence and security to any 7iation. 
Hence the prophets announced the existence of one God, 
and one only ; all idols are vanities, all other gods no gods. 
These idols are the work of man, and have neither life 
nor power. With incomparable severity of satire does 
Isaiah describe a man selecting a suitable tree, cutting 
off a log and hewing for himself a god to worship, while 
he makes a fire of the remainder to cook his food and 
warm his house. This doctrine of the unity of God, and 
of his presence everywhere, observing all that man does, 
and even knowing his thoughts before there is one of 
them, was pressed upon the conscience of the people with 
surpassing earnestness, and was a master force in repress- 
ing evil. 

Another natural outgrowth of this fundamental principle 
was the superiority of the moral law above the cera?io?iial. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 23 I 

Righteousness and ritualism antagonize. The prophet 
advocates the supremacy of character ; the priest, that of 
ceremony. " Pure affections," cries the prophet. " Pure 
incense," shouts the priest. The prophet insists upon the 
"upright heart and pure." The priest calls for " clean 
vessels and clean hands." From Samuel to Malachi, the 
annunciation of the prophets is, " The sacrifices of God 
are a broken and contrite heart." " To obey is better 
than sacrifice." " I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." " I 
hate, I despise your solemn feasts." " Let justice run 
down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." 
" Cease to do evil ; learn to do well." " If a man be just, 
he shall live." "The soul that sinneth shall die." "If 
he repenteth and doeth right, he shall save his soul 
alive ; he shall not die." 

Thus is ritualism subordinated by the prophets to spirit- 
ualism ; the altar, to the heart ; the liturgy, to life. 

Of necessity, therefore, the prophets always addressed 
the moral sense, the conscience of the people. Nathan 
stands before David in the loftiness of righteousness, and 
illustrates by his parable the heinousness of injustice. 
The monarch is indignant at the wrong and the wrong- 
doer. So the appeal of Isaiah brings tears to the eyes 
of Hezekiah, and fills his heart with penitence. Elijah, 
when he stood before Ahab, was terrible as the ghost of 
the murdered Naboth. Thus the prophets addressed the 
conscience of the nation when they spoke to the people. 
They did not balance expediencies, or calculate chances, 
or compromise principles. They addressed the sense of 



232 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

right, of justice ; and awaking these, they called to then- 
aid the strength of Omnipotence. The voice of the 
prophet is the voice of the Lord. All injustice is in- 
fernal, and will sink its doer — person or nation — to 
the pit. Extended boundaries, stately mansions, famous 
cities, renowned warriors, are not a nation's strength 
and glory, but righteousness, obedience to the divine law. 
In this respect the difference between the motives and 
insight of these prophets and those of all other ancient 
orators and statesmen is most distinctly marked. 

The prophets were necessarily independent of all parties 
and digues. Their great commission was, " Speak my 
words, whether they will hear or forbear. Be not afraid 
of them. As an adamant harder than flint have I made 
thy forehead." And as the everlasting rock receives 
upon its breast the sea when it roars, and as the waves 
when they lift themselves up upon it are shattered to 
foam, so these prophets met the wrath of kings and the 
tumult of the people, and both were broken and thrown 
back in confusion. They were as immovable as the prin- 
ciples which they advocated. Glorious apostles of right- 
eousness ! Grand champions of right ! The world will 
not fail to give you supreme honor till it ceases to revere 
truth and its heroic defenders. 

One more marked and unique result naturally sprang 
from this divine principle of the supremacy of righteous- 
ness : it was its final prevalence as the guiding and gov- 
erning power of all nations. All kings shall at last rule 
in righteousness. Might shall no more give right. All 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 233 

peoples shall at last be holy, with songs and everlasting 
joy upon their heads. The wilderness and the solitary 
place shall be glad, and deserts shall blossom as the 
rose. The glory of Lebanon and the excellency of 
Sharon shall pervade and prevail. No lion shall be there, 
nor any ravenous beast. The mountains shall share the 
delight of the people, and break forth into singing, 
and all the trees of the field catch the sounding joy 
and clap their hands. The fir-tree shall grow up in the 
place of the thorn, and the myrtle-tree instead of the 
brier. 

The Utopias of modern idealists are but children's 
dreams when compared with the glorious kingdom of God 
to be established through the prevalence of righteous- 
ness, as described by these Hebrew prophets. As the 
orrery of the cabinet is to the majestic march and infinite 
abysses of the constellated universe, so is the conception 
of a perfect commonwealth, by Plato and Sir Thomas 
More, to the sublime vision of God's perfected kingdom on 
earth as seen and described by Isaiah and Ezekiel. The 
faith of these old prophets in the ultimate triumph of 
righteousness was one that removed mountains, subdued 
kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the vio- 
lence of fire, changed weakness into strength, saw the in- 
visible, and won the unattainable. 

Of the great Hereafter, however, these men said noth- 
ing, and drew no motives to action from beyond the grave. 
If the hearts of the people burned within them when the 
rapt prophet described the reign of righteousness and 



234 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

peace on earth, how should not our hearts exult as the 
veil is lifted by a stronger hand, the gates of pearl un- 
folded, the golden pavements revealed, — the river of life 
refreshing, the ever-fruitful trees nourishing, and the be- 
nignant face of the Father illuminating, all ! 

Section VII. — Principles and Rules to be regarded in 
i?iterpreting the Writings of the Prophets, 

On the very threshold of a consideration of this subject 
we meet the popular error that the prophets are mainly 
occupied in foretelling future evettts, — revealing future 
history. The contrary is true, as I have already said : 
there are very few instances of specific prophecies in the 
prophetical books. Those recorded in the historical 
books are rendered suspicious, as the authors of those 
books are unknown, and the traditions of the prophecies 
may not have been accurate. But we are not now dis- 
cussing the probable accuracy of these accounts. In the 
prophetical books, now under consideration, specific pre- 
dictions are very rare indeed. The prophets speak of the 
results of good and bad conduct and administration, as 
preachers and statesmen and publicists do to-day. But 
as they clothed their addresses in the language of poetry, 
and the gorgeousness of Oriental poetry, their descriptions 
are more specific and graphic than those of Occidental 
speakers. 

It is to be borne constantly in mind, as the first 
fundamental rule of interpretation, that all their pre- 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 235 

dictions are conditioned upon conduct, — upon obedience or 
disobedience to the law. 

Jeremiah most emphatically affirms this in his prophe- 
cies. Speaking in the name of the Lord, he says : " At 
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and con- 
cerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and 
destroy it, if that nation . . .turn from their evil, I 
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and 
concerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant it, if it 
do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then will 
I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit 
them." The same underlying condition of the prophecies 
is illustrated in the Book of Jonah. The story is too fa- 
miliar to render quotation necessary. Prophecy is always 
conditioned upon conduct ; and what is predicted is the 
natural result of previous conditions or conduct which 
the prophet saw : as we say, when we see a poorly built 
bridge, that an accident will happen there ; or when we 
see a drinking spendthrift, that he will some day be in 
the poorhouse. The fulfilment of a prophecy is not the 
result of an arbitrary volition of the Almighty, but the 
natural consequence of human conduct ; sometimes bring- 
ing calamity, sometimes bringing blessing, as the conduct 
is good or bad. 

A second rule to be observed in interpreting prophecy 
is, that we should bear constantly in mind that we are not 
only interpreting poetry, but Or 'wttal poetry, — the boldest 
and most daring in expression of any in the world. 



236 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

When a great victory is gained, the prophet says, 
" Jehovah has trodden the wine-press, and his garments 
are dyed with blood." When he leads his people to 
battle, he is said " to ride on a cloud, and to make dark- 
ness his pavilion." When he comes for the deliverance 
of his people, he is said " to bow the heavens and come 
down, to ride upon a cherub, yea, upon the wings of the 
wind." When a great calamity befalls a nation, "the sun 
is darkened, and the moon does not give her light, and 
the stars fall from their places." When the prophet de- 
scribes peace and prosperity, he announces that " the wolf 
and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion eat straw 
like the ox." A disregard of this rule of interpretation has 
been the cause of the grossest abuse of these writings. 

In describing the terrible desolation which should come 
upon the land, and the misery that would befall the peo- 
ple, the prophet says : " The streams shall be turned into 
pitch, and the dust into brimstone, and the land shall 
become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night 
nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up forever ; from 
generation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall 
pass through it for ever and ever." That no such thing 
happened after that prophecy was delivered everybody 
knows ; and everybody ought to know that the prophet 
meant no such literal thing. And yet commentators have 
attempted to show that all this has taken place, by the re- 
port of travellers who have been through this very country 
where "no one should pass for ever and ever" ! The 
wrong done both to the old prophets and to modern 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 237 

readers by such commentators is incalculable, and has 
made many unbelievers. 

The prophets must be read as poets, I cannot refrain 
from one more quotation to illustrate this rule. In an 
ecstasy of joy at the prospect of the destruction of the 
enemies of his nation, and their terrible slaughter, the 
prophet exclaims : " The mountains shall flow down with 
their blood, and all the hosts of heaven shall melt away, 
and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all 
their host shall fall down as the withered leaf falleth from 
the vine, as the blighted fruit from the fig-tree." To look 
for the literal fulfilment of such language would be as 
foolish and as futile as to look for the philosopher's stone 
or the fountain of perpetual youth. 

These two principles or rules of interpretation are fun- 
damental. I will now add some minor but yet important 
rules which should be regarded in interpreting certain 
portions of these writings. As Jewish literature was not 
abundant, resort was had by later writers to the sacred 
Scriptures for illustrative quotations ; as we quote passages 
from the writings of Milton, Shakspeare, Burke, and Pope, 
to illustrate some point and give force and attractiveness 
to our style. We do not inquire what occasion or person 
the original writer had in his mind, but we apply his apt 
language to our occasion and person. So these later Jewish 
writers quote their predecessors and are quoted by their 
successors, without any regard to the occasion or person 
to which or whom the original author referred, and apply 
the apt phrase to their own times and contemporaries. 



238 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

The New Testament abounds with this kind of illustra- 
tive quotation. In Matthew ii. 10, it is said of the return 
of the holy family from Egypt, " That it might be fulfilled 
which w r as spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out 
of Egypt have I called my son." It would seem from 
this formula that the passage quoted was a prediction of 
the return of Jesus from Egypt, and not an application of 
words suitable to describe this return, originally used for 
a very different purpose. Turn to Hosea xi. 1, and it will 
be seen that the passage is not even a prophecy, but sim- 
ply an historical statement of the rescue of Israel out of 
Egypt : " When Israel was a child I loved him, and called 
my son out of Egypt." The words were not fulfilled as a 
predictio?i, but as fitly describing an event. This was a 
customary way of quotation among the Jews. 

A third rule, therefore, which must be observed in in- 
terpreting the prophecies is, that we must not understand 
that a prophecy was intended for the event to which it is ap- 
plied by later writers, but must inquire whether they have 
not merely quoted it descriptively, rhetorically, as peculiarly 
and impressively depicting the condition of things in their 
own day. 

A fourth rule to be regarded in interpreting the 
prophecies is, to carefully distinguish between what the 
Prophet utters as his original commission from Jehovah, 
if he have any, and what is merely a development and en- 
forcement of the fundamental law of the nation, or of 
previous prophecies. 

The foundation of all the hopes of the Hebrew race 






GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 239 

and of all the predictions of the prophets is the original 
promise to Abraham : " I will make of thee a great na- 
tion, and I will bless thee . . . and in thee shall all the 
families of the earth be blessed." The same promise was 
repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Then Moses reveals God's 
purposes more specifically, and tells the people that obe- 
dience is essential to prosperity, that disobedience will bring 
famine, invasion, captivity ; and that on their reformation 
they will be restored to their own land again. Nathan 
also promised David that his family should rule for ages. 

On these promises and threatenings as fundamental 
facts the prophets rest all their teachings, warnings, and 
promises. Just as Christian ministers to-day rest all their 
promises and threatenings on the gospel, so these old 
prophets rest all their predictions of the future, and re- 
bukes of the present time upon the laws and promises of 
ancient times. Whether any of these prophets had other 
and fuller knowledge of the future, derived from other 
sources than their moral presentiments and the Mosaic 
law, or from earlier annunciations of the elder prophets, 
must be determined by an examination of their prophe- 
cies. If they have no other insight than this into the 
future, then there is no proof that they were supernatu- 
rally enlightened. Again, if what they predict occurs, it 
is necessary, in order to prove their inspiration in the 
ordinary use of that word, that the "nature of the event 
be such that it could not be foreseen by any supposable effort 
of reason, or be deduced upon principles of calculation, 
derived from probability and experience." 



240 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Again, it must always be borne in mind that since the 
prophecies are poetry, — and Oriental poetry, — the bold- 
est figures of speech are constantly used, and must be re- 
garded in their interpretation. Names, persons, places, 
are introduced into their addresses by the prophets, to 
give life, point, force, impressiveness, to their speech. 
We must not give literal significance to these. When 
a modern orator, in the ardor of his feelings, exclaims, 
" The Arnolds and the Davises shall be held in everlasting 
contempt," he does not mean the progeny of these trai- 
tors, much less the men who bear their names ; but he 
means men of like falseness to high trusts, men of like 
hostility to their country, — all traitors. So these old 
prophets use names to represent classes and characters. 

Finally, the reader must bear in mind that scholars of a 
subsequent age were accustomed to make obscure passages 
mo7'e explicit by marginal notes, called scholia, which were 
introduced by subsequent copyists into the text as a part 
of the prophet's own writing, and which were thought to 
have been accidentally omitted by some careless copyist. 
Very minute and careful rules are given in works on inter- 
pretation by which these interpolations can be detected. 
It would be out of place to introduce them here. 

Section VIII. — The Origin of the Authority and Cer- 
tainty with which the Prophets spoke. 

To understand the origin of this authority, it is neces- 
sary to inquire respecting what was contained in the early 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 24 1 

traditions of their ancestors, and their fundamental law 
respecting their future condition, and the causes which 
would produce it. If we find that the prophet threatens 
nothing and promises nothing the justification of which 
he does not find in the traditions and laws of his people, 
then we are to infer that the prophet has obtained his 
knowledge from these sources, as Christian preachers 
draw theirs from the Gospels, and not from any special 
revelation to their own minds. This inquiry is vital to all 
intelligent reading of these books. 

What, then, were the early traditions of the nation? 
When Abraham resided in Haran, he was directed to " get 
out of the land and go to the land which Jehovah would 
show him; and Jehovah said, I will make thee a great 
nation ; and I will bless them that bless thee, and I will 
curse them that curse thee ; and in thee shall all the na- 
tions of the earth be blessed; " Gen. xii. 2, 3. And when 
Abraham had crossed the Jordan, and from the heights 
overlooked the whole country, the promise was repeated, 
and Abraham's " seed was to be as the dust of the earth ; " 
Gen. xiii. 14-16. And yet twice more is this great prom- 
ise repeated to him, — at the birth of Isaac, and at the 
rescue of Isaac from sacrifice on the mount. His seed is 
to be " as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the 
sea-shore.' 1 The same promise is made to Isaac when 
famine threatens the extinction of his household ; Gen. 
xxvi. 3, 4. Jacob, on his pillow of stone at Bethel, had the 
same assurance ; Gen. xxviii. 13. If succeeding prophets 
predicted the same destiny to the nation, they found their 

16 



242 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

authority in the recorded promises to the patriarchs ; and 
it is unnecessary to suppose that any special revelation 
was made to them. 

Passing on from the three great ancestors of the nation, 
we will examine the fundamental law of the state, and see 
what is here threatened and promised for the future, and 
the conditions on which these threatenings and promises 
are given. 

This frst grand summary of God's purposes is given, as 
understood by Moses, in Leviticus xxvi. : " Jfye will walk 
in my statutes and keep my commandments, . . . then will 
I give you ram, . . . and the land shall yield her increase, 
and the trees . . . their fruit, . . . and ye shall eat your bread 
to the full, and dwell in your land in safety ; and I will give 
peace in the land ; . . . none shall make you afraid, . . . and I 
will multiply you. But zfye will not do all these command- 
ments, but break my covenant, ... I will appoint you terror, 
consumption, and the burning ague : and ye shall sow your 
seed in vain, . . . your enemies shall eat it. ... I will make 
your heaven as iro?i and your earth brass. . . . Your land 
shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees . . . yield 
their fruits ; and wild beasts will destroy your cattle, . . . 
and your highways shall be desolate. But if they shall 
confess their iniquity, then will I remember my covenant 
with Jacob, with Isaac, and with Abraham, . . . and when 
they be in the land of their enemies I will not cast them 
away." A captivity is implied in this last promise. 

These threatenings and promises announced under the 
awful shadow of Sinai are frequently repeated in fragments 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 243 

during the next forty years to restrain or encourage the 
people in their wanderings. On the banks of the Jordan 
the great lawgiver, forbidden to pass over with the people, 
exhorts them with all the pathos of a father and all the fer- 
vor of a prophet to be true to the covenant and obedient 
to the laws ; for he exclaims : " If ye shall do evil ... ye 
shall soon utterly perish from off the land, ... ye shall not 
prolong your days in 'it ; ... . the Lord shall scatter you 
among the fiations, and ye shall be left few in number 
among the heathen. . . . But if from thence thou shalt 
seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him ; ... he will 
not forsake thee nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of 
the fathers which he sware to them" (Deuteronomy iv.). 

So surely shall obedience bring prosperity, disobedience 
bring plague, famine, invasion, captivity, and repentance 
bring restoration from captivity and abundance in field 
and fold. The grass will grow, the herds will multiply, 
the fruits ripen, the harvest abound, the vintage increase, 
just in proportion as the people are obedient. Drought, 
pestilence, blight, locusts, wild beasts, will abound and 
visit them just in proportion as they disregard the law 
which the lawgiver, Moses, gave to the people. 

It may be well to make a few more quotations from the 
fundamental law of the nation, that we may see how firmly 
the threatenings and promises of the old prophets were 
based on the annunciations of their great lawgiver. 

About to enumerate an abundance of blessings, he ex- 
claims with deepest emotion : " All these blessings shall 
come on thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the 



244 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Lord : Blessed shalt thou be in the city . . . and in the 
field, and in the fruit of thy body, . . . and in the fruit of thy 
ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of 
thy kine. . . . The Lord shall cause thine enemies to be 
smitten before thy face. But if thou wilt not hearken 
unto the voice of the Lord to observe and do all his com- 
mandments which I command thee, then all these curses 
shall come upon thee : Cursed shalt thou be in city, and 
in field, and in thy basket, and in thy store, and in the 
fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land. . . . The Lord 
shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee till he have 
consumed thee from the land; and thy heaven shall 
be brass, and the earth iron ; the rain of thy land shall be 
powder and dust. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be 
given to another people. . . . The fruit of thy land shall a 
nation which thou knowest not eat tip. The locust shall 
consume the harvest. Thou shalt plant vineyards and 
dress them, but thou shalt not drink the wine noi; gather 
the grapes, for worms shall eat them. Thine olive shall 
cast its fruit. All thy trees and the fruit shall the locust 
consume. The Lord shall bring a nation from afar against 
thee from the end of the earth as swift as an eagle flieth, 
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not tinderstand, a nation 
of a fierce countenance, and he shall besiege thee until 
thy high fenced walls come down ; and thou shalt eat of 
the fruit of thine own body, . . . and the Lord shall scatter 
thee among all people from one end of the earth to the 
other. And it shall come to pass when all these things are 
upon thee, and thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God 






GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 245 

and shalt obey his voice, . . , that the Lord will turn thy 
captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return 
and gather thee from all nations whither he hath scattered 
thee ; from the uttermost parts of heaven will the Lord 
gather thee, . . . and will bring thee into the land which 
thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it. And the 
Lord will put all these curses on thine enemies which 
persecuted thee" (Deuteronomy xxviii.). 

So does the august lawgiver unfold the future of the 
nation ; and then lifting himself to the loftiest height of as- 
severation he exclaims : " I call heaven and earth to record 
this day against you that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life, that both 
thou and thy seed may live, and that thou mayest dwell in 
the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abra- 
ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." 

On these great principles, and these consequences of 
disregarding them, the prophets based their addresses of 
warning and encouragement to the people. The reader 
is advised to study diligently these early words of the 
lawgiver, that he may intelligently enjoy the writings of 
the prophets. 

It remains to say a few words respecting the annuncia- 
tions of a few of the later statesmen and wise men of the 
nation. 

Samuel, the founder of the monarchy, says to David, 
" Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever 
before thee, and thy throne shall be established forever ; " 
2 Sam. vii. 12-16. Solomon, in his prayer at the dedica- 



246 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

tion of the Temple, implores the Lord to keep the promise 
which he had made to his servant David, that there should 
" not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of 
Israel." And the Psalmist declares the perpetuity of 
David's throne : " I have sworn to David my servant, Thy 
seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all 
gefierations. His throne shall be as the days of heaven. 
It shall endure as the sun, and it shall be established for- 
ever as the moon." 

The authority of the prophets to announce the perpe- 
tuity of David's throne, and his posterity as its occupants 
forever, is found in the affirmation of the great founder 
of the monarchy, whose words were repeated by states- 
men and heroes of subsequent ages, and sung to the 
music of harp and lyre and the blast of trumpets by the 
sons of Korah in the Temple courts. 

CONCLUSION. 

I have now finished what I thought necessary to say 
in a General Introduction to the Books of the Prophets. 
I have treated of the character and office of the prophets, 
of the subjects on which they wrote and their method of 
treating them, of the rules to be observed in their inter- 
pretation, and of the authority to which they appeal for 
the truth of their addresses. These old Hebrew prophets 
were princely men, though no noble blood ran in their 
veins, nor royal titles graced their names. Their integrity 
was their princeliness ; their patriotism, their nobility. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 247 

They maintained the superiority of righteousness over 
ritualism, the acceptableness of sanctity above sacrifice. 
They rebuked kings for their tyranny and priests for their 
formalism. Their writings abound in all that is inspir- 
ing. In loftiness of thought, in warmth of emotion, in 
grandeur of expression, they are unexcelled, unrivalled in 
all Oriental literature ; nor will their equal be found in the 
classic pages of the polished Greek. The roll of the ma- 
jestic periods of Isaiah is as the roll of the ocean's waves ; 
and the rush of the sentences of Hosea is like the rush of 
the torrents of Gilead. Would you feast upon what is 
best and most sublime in all the literatures of the ages, I 
commend you to that which comes fragrant from the 
vineyards of Carmel and the cedars of Lebanon, from 
the olive-groves and threshing-floors of Hebron, from the 
fountains of Solomon and Siloam, from Zion's Hill and the 
Temple on Moriah. 

I shall next examine the books themselves, that we 
may see how completely subsequent prophecies rest upon 
the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and 
upon the fundamental enactments of the lawgiver Moses, 
and of the founder of the monarchy, Samuel. 



248 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 



CHAPTER II. 

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEPARATE BOOKS OF THE PROPHETS. 

It is customary among writers on the prophetical books 
to divide them into two classes according to their length. 
Hence they are called the Major and Minor Prophets, or 
the Larger and Smaller Prophets, — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eze- 
kiel, and Daniel composing the former, and all between 
Hosea and Malachi being included in the latter : in all, 
sixteen books, by at least eighteen authors. The books 
composed by two authors whose works are united are 
Isaiah and Zechariah. The reasons for attributing each 
of these books to two authors will be given when the 
books are examined. As these books are not arranged 
chronologically in our Bible, I choose to treat them in a 
different order, and will begin with the prophet Joel. 

Section I. — Joel, 

Of the life of the prophet Joel we know nothing. He 
is said, in the inscription by some unknown preserver 
of this address, to be the son of Pethuel. As little is 
known of the father as of the son. It is also unknown 
in what year he prophesied. Critics differ widely and 
give the most extravagant conjectures respecting it ; some 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 249 

placing the book as early as 900 b. c, and some as late as 
500 b. c. There are no historical references in it by which 
its precise date can be settled. Famines were frequently 
occurring, and the plague of locusts was not rare. That 
Joel wrote when such a terrible visitation was on the land 
is evident, for he makes it the theme of his prophecy, and 
bewails the sad state of his nation : — 

" The vine is dried up, 
And the fig-tree languisheth ; 

The pomegranate, the palm-tree, and the apple-tree, 
All the trees of the field are withered. 
The corn also is withered. 
How do the beasts groan ! 
How do the herds of oxen wander perplexed, 
Having no pasture ! 
The streams of water are dried up ! " 

And of the locusts he cries : — 

" They are not to be numbered ; 
Their teeth are the teeth of lions, 
They have the jaw-teeth of the lioness. 
They have made my vine a desolation, 
And my fig-tree a broken branch ; 
They have made it quite bare ; 
The branches thereof are white ! " 

The style of the book refers it to the golden period of 
Hebrew literature. It is pure, terse, elevated, free from 
the Chaldaisms which are found near the time of the cap- 
tivity and which forbid its reference to so late a period as 
500 b. c. Again, in enumerating the enemies of the peo- 
ple Joel does not speak of either the Syrians or Assyrians 
or Babylonians, which he certainly would have done if he 



250 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

had written as late as some of his critics maintain. He 
most probably wrote in the ninth century, or about 850 b. c. 

The two kingdoms of Israel and Judah were established, 
and Joel prophesied in Judah. The kingdom of Israel was 
almost perpetually, and the kingdom of Judah very fre- 
quently, idolatrous. The people often deserted Jehovah, 
and " sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places," 
where they had erected altars to idols. The penalty 
which the great lawgiver had denounced against idolatry 
was inflicted. The whole land was groaning and perish- 
ing. There was no vintage for the vine-dresser, there 
were no first-fruits for the priests, there was no food for 
the people. "The seeds were rotten under their clods." 
In the midst of all this distress and suffering, and with 
greater woes in prospect, the prophet appears, and strives, 
in words of deepest pathos and most stinging rebuke, to 
win back the people from their idolatrous worship to the 
worship of the God of their fathers, or to terrify them by 
unveiling still deeper calamities that would come upon 
them if they should persist in their evil ways. 

Some writers have supposed that the locusts were a 
symbol of invading armies who had desolated the land, 
and would desolate it more completely unless the people 
repented. But there is no evidence of this symbolism in 
the prophecy, and drought and locusts attend each other 
hi the East, and elsewhere where locusts abound. The 
prophet argues that so great a calamity proves great dis- 
loyalty of the people to their God, and requires instant 
and deep repentance. Therefore, — 






INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 25 1 

" Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, 
Appoint ye a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, 
Gather the people, assemble the elders, 
Bring in the children and the sucklings ; 
Let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber, 
And the bride from her nuptial bed ! 
Weep between the porch and the altar, 
And cry, Spare thy people, O Jehovah ! " 

And if ye thus repent, God will drive away the locusts, 
fill the wine-vat and the threshing-floor, bring home the 
captives, and make the land abound with peace and 
plenty. Joy shall fill the hearts of both old and young 
at their deliverance and abundance, the blessings which 
Jehovah will give you shall fill your sleeping as well as 
your waking hours, visions of plenty and peace shall come 
in the night watches, and all the people shall be priests 
and prophets. 

Such is the spirit of this fast-day sermon of the old 
prophet of Judah. The calamity which had overtaken 
the people was threatened in the Law for disobedience, 
and the promises which Joel made were the promises 
which the lawgiver had made on condition of repentance 
(Deuteronomy xxviii., Leviticus xxvi.). The prophecy 
of Joel neither claims nor implies that a special divine 
communication was made to his mind. He simply an- 
nounces in his own language and in his own way the 
penalties and promises of the law. 

There is one passage in Joel (ii. 28-31) quoted by 
Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 16-21), which is 
understood as being a prediction of what was then taking 



252 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

place. But when we remember the manner in which the 
Jews quoted their sacred books, applying to one occasion 
passages which were spoken in reference to another, and 
especially when this passage in Joel is compared with the 
circumstances which surrounded Peter, it will be seen at 
once that it is not a prediction of the scenes of the Pente- 
cost, but a description of the blessing which would attend 
repentance and deliverance from the drought and the 
locusts. 

In those days of which Joel speaks, the captives of 
Judah that had been taken in the recent inroads of their 
enemies, Shishak and others, would be returned to the 
land. This was one cause of the exultant joy of the 
people which filled the night as well as the day with 
rejoicings. Then also such revolutions would take place 
among the enemies of the nation that they could be sym- 
bolized only by 

" Wonders in the heavens and in the earth ; 
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 
The sun shall be turned into darkness, 
And the moon into blood, 
Before the day of Jehovah cometh, 
The great and terrible day. . . . 
For upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 
Shall be deliverance." 

But no such things took place on the day of Pentecost ; 
nor does Peter's language, when he quotes this passage, 
indicate that this is a prophecy of that day, or that he 
quotes it as such. He says only, " This which you see is 
what the prophet Joel wrote of, — God's spirit is poured out 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 253 

now as then ; " and he proceeds to quote the whole passage, 
a part of which only was applicable to his purpose, if the 
writer has with verbal accuracy reported his speech, which 
is not at all probable. If the writer of Matthew could 
quote Hosea xi. 2, with the formula, " that it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet," 
when he was only citing a simple historical statement, 
much more might Peter cite the words of Joel without 
indicating, or intending to have it understood, that they 
were prophetic, but only applicable to that occasion. At 
all events, there is no satisfactory proof to be derived from 
this quotation that Joel foresaw and predicted the day of 
Pentecost, or that he had any knowledge of God's pur- 
poses respecting men in general and the Jews in particular, 
other than that derived from the national law and the teach- 
ings of his own reason and conscience. He spoke as God's 
ambassador, just as a Christian minister preaching to-day 
appeals to the law of God written on the heart and re- 
vealed by his Son. There is no evidence that Joel had 
any inspiration in kind above that of Luther or Wesley or 
Channing. He was an eloquent, impassioned preacher of 
the Hebrew race. It is a cause of deep regret that only 
this fragment of his prophecies has come down to us, — a 
single gem from among many which sparkled in the casket 
of his addresses. 

Section II. — <Amos. 

Of this prophet nothing is known except what can be 
gleaned from the prophecy itself and its anonymous intro- 



254 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

duction. In Amos i. i, the prophet is said to have been 
" one of the shepherds of Tekoa," a small town about 
twelve miles south of Jerusalem in the kingdom of Judah. 
Amos says of himself (vii. 14, 15) : — 

" I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet ; 
I was a shepherd and a gatherer of sycamore fruit ; 
And Jehovah took me from the flock, 
And Jehovah said to me, 
Go, prophesy to my people Israel." 

Amos was not of the prophetic order, and he had not 
attended the prophetic schools. He might be called a 
lay preacher. Then, as now, men who were filled with 
the love of their country and of their kind took their lives 
in their hands and went forth in the name of God and 
righteousness to teach, to warn, and to reform the people. 
Amos prophesied " concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah 
king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of 
Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake." 
Of this earthquake we know nothing ; but the manner in 
which it is referred to shows that it was well known to the 
contemporaries of the writer of this introduction, whoever 
he was. Uzziah reigned from 808 to 756 b. c, and Jero- 
boam reigned from 825 to 784 b. c. Amos probably 
prophesied about 784-800 B.C. 

Entering upon his work as an uneducated man, with no 
culture but that of a fruit-grower, with no skill as a speaker 
but such as sincerity gives, and having something to say 
which must be spoken, his style is, as we should expect it 
to be, more forcible than polished, of greater strength than 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 255 

beauty, rugged even like the rocky slopes where his flocks 
climbed, and abrupt like the precipices which overhung 
the springs where they quenched their thirst. We also 
find that his similes and metaphors, indeed all his figures 
of speech and illustrations, are drawn from rural life. He 
was a child of Nature, not of the schools. 

The law of right and the law of Moses were his authori- 
ties. He finds in them the judgments which will fall upon 
transgressors and the blessings which will attend obe- 
dience. As he watched his flocks under the transparent 
skies of Judea, the heavens through all their constellated 
dome illustrated the majesty of the God of Israel, and the 
shepherd's tenderness for the weak and young of his flock 
was a perpetual symbol of Jehovah's care of his people. 
His prophecy is therefore full of references to his rural 
life. The basket of fruit, the vineyards, the fig-trees, the 
aftermath in the royal meadows, the herd of kine covering 
the hills of Samaria, the shepherds scaring the lions from 
their prey, the lions and the bears, the heavy-laden wagons 
groaning under the burden of sheaves, the winnowing of 
the grain, the locust desolating the fields, — these, and 
such allusions as these, abound in his prophecy, and re- 
veal what manner of life he lived, and what a careful 
and impressible observer he was of the scenes and things 
around him. 

Jeroboam reigned in Israel when Amos prophesied, and 
the people had been successful in their foreign wars and 
home industries, and hence were prosperous, luxurious, 
and proud. They forsook the law of Moses and the God 



256 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

of the fathers, and became base idolaters and grossly ef- 
feminate. They imported costly furniture from Damascus, 
and reclined at their sumptuous, idolatrous feasts on 
damask couches. They had erected an idol altar on the 
very spot where their great ancestor slept on his pillow of 
stone and had visions of glory ; and the smoke of idola- 
trous sacrifices ascended to the same heavens where he 
had seen angels ascending and descending. 

The prophet knew that great judgments must be in 
store for them unless they repented, — locusts, drought, 
famine, war, captivity, — for so taught the law. The na- 
tions around were prosperous, and especially Syria on the 
east, which was already crouched like a lion to spring 
upon her rival. Farther away was growing, spreading, and 
conquering, the Assyrian nation, fierce, warlike, trium- 
phant, pressing westward. On the west was Tyre, whose 
merchants were princes, whose commerce spread her 
sails to the Pillars of Hercules and beyond, and brought 
to her wharves the spices of India. On the southeast, 
among the mountain ranges, and on the mountains east of 
the Jordan and the Dead Sea, were Moab and Amnion and 
Edom, all hating Israel with a perfect hatred, and lying in 
wait to invade the kingdom. On the south was the rival 
kingdom, Judah, smarting under the wrongs inflicted, and 
watching sleeplessly for an opportunity to tear and rend 
and destroy. Thus, not only were famine and drought and 
locusts and empty garners impending, but hostile nations 
were watching their hour ; and when it should come, the 
heavens would gather blackness and the earth quake. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 257 

Thus sustained by the law and impelled by the peril 
which he sees impending, Amos leaves his sheepfolds 
and sycamore -trees and goes forth clothed in the simple 
panoply of truth and righteousness. He speaks in the 
name of the God of truth, denounces against the sinful 
nation the judgments threatened in the law, and holds up 
for their encouragement the sublime promises of protec- 
tion which would follow repentance. " Even should you 
be carried captive into a far land," he exclaims, "still, God 
would hear your cry for deliverance when you turned to 
him, and would gather you from all the nations whither the 
Lord your God had scattered you. From out of the utter- 
most part of heaven will the Lord your God gather you 
into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall 
possess it, and he will do you good," as he had promised 
in the law (Deuteronomy xxviii.). 

He first addresses the hostile nations in a very periodic 
style, and he opens his prophecy with a startling meta- 
phor, which makes the ear tingle that hears it, and the 
cheeks of him who understands it grow pale : — 

" Jehovah will roar from Zion, 
And utter his voice from Jerusalem ; 
The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, 
And the top of Carmel shall wither." 

The prophecy or book may be divided into two parts : 
the first part, i.-vi., containing discourses ; the second part, 
vii.-ix., containing visions and symbols. Amos sets right- 
eousness high above ritualism. Speaking in the name of 
Jehovah, he cries : — 

17 



258 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

" I hate, I despise your feasts ; 
I have no delight in your solemn assemblies ; 
When ye offer me burnt offerings and flour offerings 
I will not accept them. . . . 

Take ye away from me the noise of your songs. . . . 
Let justice flow forth as waters, 
And righteousness as a mighty stream." 

When Amaziah commands him to prophesy no more, 
he sends back a message which stands in the forefront of 
all such literature : — 

"Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, 
And speak no word against the house of Isaac ; 
Therefore thus saith Jehovah : 
Thy wife shall be put to shame in the city, 
And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, 
And thou shalt die in a polluted land, 
And Israel shall be led captive from his own land." 

But all calamities will be turned into blessings if the 
sinning people repent and turn from all their iniquities. 
Their ruined walls shall be rebuilt/ their waste cities shall 
be inhabited, their desolate fields shall wave with harvests, 
their broken wine-vats shall overflow with new wine. 

" I will plant them in their land, 
And they shall no more be rooted up from the land which I have 

given them, 
Saith Jehovah, thy God." 

There are no predictions in this book so specific as to 
prove that Amos was inspired in the usual sense of that 
word, or that the veil of the future was parted to reveal 
things to come more clearly than they were announced in 
the law and foreshadowed by passing events to the eye of 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 259 

a reverent patriot and devout Israelite. His prophecy is 
to be read as the utterance of a devoted defender of truth 
and righteousness ; of one who loved his country as he 
loved his life. 

Section III. — Hosea. 

Of the prophet Hosea we know nothing except what 
can be found in the anonymous introduction to his writ- 
ings and gleaned from a very few allusions in them. He 
is said to be " the son of Beeri," of whom we know nothing, 
and to have prophesied " in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, 
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of 
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." He lived, 
therefore, during the closing period of the kingdom of 
Israel, from 810 b. c. to near the capture of Samaria and 
the captivity of Israel, 72 t b. c, — nearly ninety years. It 
was a period of fearful internal revolution, regicide, and 
idolatry, and of external invasion, destruction, and cap- 
tivity. Judging by the very imperfect fragments of history 
which have come down to us, there was a period of an- 
archy, which Jeroboam's son Zechariah finally succeeded 
in overcoming, but only for six months, when he fell with 
all his house before a conspiracy in the army. Then Shal- 
lum usurped the throne, but succeeded in holding it only 
a month, when another conspirator, Menahem, smote him 
and reigned in his stead for eleven years. Menahem was 
a cruel usurper. He sacked the cities that would not 
open their gates to him as king, slew their inhabitants and 



260 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

laid waste their country, committing the most savage atro- 
cities which a monster in human form could perpetrate. 
Hated at home, he was not feared abroad. Pul, king of 
Assyria, took advantage of his unpopularity and weakness 
and came up against him. Menahem, the coward, pur- 
chased peace with one thousand talents of silver, which 
he raised by levying a most oppressive tax upon his sub- 
jects. Every man of wealth was doomed to pay fifty shek- 
els of silver, and for this tribute Pul sustained Menahem on 
his throne until his death. Pekahiah, his son, succeeded 
him. Weak and wicked, and lacking his father's cunning 
and energy, the army conspired against him, and Pekah, 
a captain, assassinated him in his palace after he had 
reigned two years. A regicide as energetic as he was 
wicked, he ascended the throne, and by combined cunning, 
treachery, and valor, held it for twenty years. He was a 
terror not only to those who did well, but also to evil-doers. 
He was jealous, implacable, cruel, treacherous. " He did 
evil in the sight of the Lord," says the historian. As his 
own subjects were completely cowed by his tyranny, he 
looked abroad for some subject on which he could vent 
his wrath and wreak his vengeance, and his ambitious 
and cruel eye fell upon the kingdom of Judah. Dis- 
trusting his unaided strength to subdue it, he made a 
league with Rezin, king of Damascus, to unite with him 
in an attack upon Ahaz, the king of Judah. The two kings 
were victorious, taking many cities and captives and much 
plunder. Jerusalem was saved. This was the time when 
Isaiah prophesied the death of these two kings within two 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 26 1 

years. Ahaz called upon Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, 
for aid ; and he, summoning his ferocious hosts, swept out 
of existence, on his march, the kingdom of Syria, putting 
Rezin to death, and flushed with his victories rushed to 
the conquest of Israel. City after city fell before him, 
and their inhabitants were carried away captive. He left 
in the city and suburbs of Samaria a fragment of a king- 
dom in the hands of the humbled king. This campaign 
of the Assyrian king is found described on the tablets of 
Nineveh which have been exhumed after being buried for 
two thousand five hundred years. 

As Pekah gained his kingdom as a regicide, he lost it in 
like manner. Hoshea, probably one of his chief captains, 
slew the king and ascended his throne. He was a strong 
and active monarch. But his secret and cunning treaty 
with the king of Egypt did not screen him from the sus- 
picion and finally from the inroad of Shalmanezer the 
Assyrian, who succeeded Tiglath Pileser. City after city 
was taken, and the streets were filled with captives. At 
last Samaria was besieged, and after three years of most 
intense suffering the city surrendered. The citizens and 
nation were carried captive and colonized and scattered in 
different parts of the great upper valleys of the Euphrates 
and Tigris ; thus fulfilling the threatening word of the law- 
giver who announced this punishment upon the nation if 
they persisted in disobedience. On one of the exhumed 
tablets just referred to is this laconic record of the cap- 
ture of Samaria : " Samaria I looked at, I captured ; twenty- 
seven thousand two hundred and eighty men who dwelt 



262 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

in it I carried away. I constructed fifty chariots in the 
country ; I appointed a governor over them, and contin- 
ued upon [them?] the tribute of the former people." So 
passed away the kingdom of Israel from the land and the 
knowledge of men. 

It was to such a people, under such conditions, that 
Hosea prophesied. In the midst of idolatry, anarchy, regi- 
cide, licentiousness, he lifted up his voice like a trumpet, 
announcing the end of such moral corruption. Into such a 
seething caldron of iniquity, political, social, and religious, 
the prophet was about to cast his prophecy, hoping against 
hope that God would give power to the word to cool the 
burning passions and calm the raging lusts of the people. 
During the whole half-century in which the life of the 
nation was flickering out, its blood thick with corrup- 
tion, its breath foul with falsehood, and its lips blistered 
with blasphemy, Hosea rebuked, remonstrated, threatened, 
promised, and entreated, imploring the people to turn from 
their wickedness and serve the God of their fathers, and 
to "live and not die." 

We should expect, under such circumstances, that 
sometimes the style of the prophet would be like the 
moaning of the winds in the cedar-trees or the rote of 
the midnight sea on the beach ; at other times we should 
expect that his indignation would be so inflamed that his 
tones would be like the storms which shake the top of 
Lebanon, or the thunders which made Sinai tremble,-^ 
and we find it so. His style is always very abrupt, and 
hence obscure. No book in the Old Testament, Job 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 263 

excepted, perhaps, is so poorly translated in our Common 
Version. The prophet delivers his message as if each sen- 
tence were attended with a groan, and a sigh, and a pause, 
before another could be spoken. Each verse is a whole, 
like the heavy toll of a funeral bell. His heart often- 
times melts within him. The reader of his prophecy will 
be surprised by abrupt transitions from tenderest entreaty 
to most indignant rebuke, as if we had only a very con- 
densed report of what Hosea said. 

There are two divisions of the book, — the symbolic, chap- 
ters i.-iii., and the plain, chapters iv.-xiv. The symbols 
under which the prophet represents Jehovah and Israel are 
those of husband and wife, and through his prophecy he is 
constantly referring to this relation to illustrate the base 
ingratitude and sin of the nation. He ventures upon 
ground, in his description of this relation and its duties, 
which our Occidental tastes disrelish. The symbol is nar- 
rated in prose, but the interpretation is in poetry. These 
symbols were never acted, they are only described ; they 
are, however, spoken of as acted, that they may appear the 
more forcible. Had they been acted, Hosea would have 
been as vile as the vilest of those whom he rebuked, and 
would have been a most flagrant violator of the very law 
which he was exhorting the people to observe. 

There are no specific prophecies in the book which 
render it necessary to suppose that Hosea was supernatu- 
rally aided in their delivery. Based, as all his threatenings 
and promises are, upon the Mosaic law, his authority and 
guide were in his hand. The references to this book and 



264 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

the quotations taken from it by the New Testament writers 
are all in accordance with the Jewish custom of applying 
any passages in the old Scriptures to corresponding cir- 
cumstances in their own times in order to give beauty, 
force, and attractiveness to their own writings, whether the 
original writer had their times in mind or not. 

Hosea, like all the other prophets, closes with prom- 
ises full of the most graphic description of the blessings 
which will follow repentance, — even restoration to their 
native land : — 

" I will ransom them, saith Jehovah, from the power of the grave ; 
I will redeem them from death. 
O death, where is thy plague ? 
O grave, where is thy destruction ? " 

Captives though you are, and apparently hopeless as the 
dead in their graves, I will rescue you, I will exalt you. 

Section IV. — Isaiah. 

As the form of Samuel looms up in grandeur in the 
chaotic times of the Judges, as the form of Elijah rises 
sublime over the idolatrous prophets of the kingdom of 
Israel, so the form of this great prophet, Isaiah, stands 
gigantic in the midst of his contemporaries. Of the life 
of Isaiah more is known than of that of either of his 
contemporaries. No mention is made of them in the 
extant fragments of the history of their times ; but of Isaiah 
we have many incidents in the books of both the Kings 
and Chronicles. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 265 

The title to the book of his prophecies reads as follows : 
" The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw 
concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, 
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." As we 
read that he was called to the prophetic office in the last 
year of the reign of Uzziah, and as the latest date of any 
of his prophecies is that of the fifteenth year of the reign 
of Hezekiah, we have the length of his prophetic work, 
extending to fifty-five years, 758-703 B.C. 

The reign of Uzziah was as good as it was long, extend- 
ing over a period of fifty years. The nation was most 
of the time at peace, grew rich and luxurious, and fell 
into all the vices which riches, when devoted to luxury, 
bring. The prophet, therefore, when he enters upon his 
work as a religious teacher and moral reformer, rebukes 
the people for their sins of pride and extravagance. 
Jotham ascended the throne at his father's death, and 
reigned wisely and well for sixteen years. We have no 
prophecy of Isaiah which bears decisive marks of having 
been delivered in his reign. At the death of Jotham, his 
son Ahaz succeeded him at the age of twenty-five, a well- 
meaning but weak and fickle man, and hence easily led 
into idolatrous practices by the cunning, unprincipled 
members of his court. His reign fell in stormy times. 
Pekah sat on the throne of Israel, and Rezin reigned in 
Damascus and ruled Syria. They hated each other as 
only rivals can hate, and fought and ravaged each other's 
kingdoms as only barbarians can do, till the overshadow- 
ing power of Assyria terrified them both, and a common 



266 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

hostility to the peaceful, prosperous kingdom of Judah 
caused them to smother their mutual hatred and make 
common cause against the towering power on the east and 
the harmless nation on the south. It was the faith, the 
courage, the indomitable energy of Isaiah which saved 
the timid Ahaz from despair when Pekah and Rezin came 
up against Jerusalem. Yet against the remonstrance of 
Isaiah he made a treaty with Tiglath Pileser, king of 
Assyria, both offensive and defensive, to humble the pride 
of Israel and Damascus; and thus the Assyrian learned 
the weakness of Judah, and by treachery and siege caused 
its humiliation. After the captivity of Israel and the sub- 
jugation of Syria, the successors of Tiglath, especially 
Sennacherib, did the kingdom of Judah great harm, cap- 
turing cities, laying waste vineyards, plundering threshing- 
floors, and enslaving and carrying away captive many 
citizens. Moreover, Egypt, on the other side, was the 
rival and the foe of Assyria, and the small and weak king- 
dom of Judah was like the grain between the upper and 
nether millstones. Forced by the one nation to make a 
treaty in its favor, it was soon compelled by the other to 
break it, as the tide of victory rose and fell between the 
conflicting armies which trampled their soil as the vint- 
ager tramples the grapes in the wine-press. 

Hezekiah succeeded his father, Ahaz, and " was one 
of the most splendid princes," says Ewald, "who ever 
adorned the throne of David, and whose reign of thirty- 
nine years exhibits an almost unclouded picture of per- 
sistent struggle amid the most embarrassed and difficult 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 267 

circumstances. He was thoroughly noble, wanting neither 
the military spirit nor personal valor, yet devoted by pref- 
erence to the arts of peace," which his enemies left him 
little time to cultivate. He cleansed the sacred, and 
destroyed the idolatrous, altars, and forbade the idolatrous 
practices of his father, Ahaz; collected the scattered 
proverbs of Solomon and of other wise men ; reformed the 
Temple worship, and did all that a good and energetic king 
could do, but often in vain, to stay the swift current of pro- 
fligacy and corruption which was pouring through the land. 
Diplomacy, war, tribute, could not protect him and his 
people from foreign enemies and domestic dissensions. 

During these stormy times Isaiah lived and prophesied 
with the courage of a hero and the wisdom of a sage. 
He had the passionate love of country which fires the 
bosom of a true patriot, and the " vision divine " which 
makes the patriot both poet and prophet. By the breadth 
of his wisdom he commanded the audience of kings, and 
under the shadow of his sublime trust the people sought 
protection when all faces were pale with despair, and all 
hearts were faint in the presence of the defiant foe. The 
affrighted king became calm, hopeful, courageous, in his 
self-reliant presence. His words were as goads to the 
time-serving, and like living coals to his enemies. He 
is a citizen of Jerusalem. All the stones of its walls are 
precious to him. He was not, like Amos, taken from the 
sheepfold, nor like Joel and Hosea was he a citizen of 
an obscure village. He had lived under the very shadow 
of the Temple. In childhood his ears had heard the priests 



268 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

as they chanted in the holy place the psalms of their shep- 
herd king. He had seen the smoke of the morning sac- 
rifice float away toward Olivet as the golden pinnacles of 
the Temple were blazing with the coming day. The fra- 
grance of the incense from the golden altar had greeted 
him as he walked the streets. The house of David, the 
palace of Solomon, and all the splendors of the Temple 
were familiar to his eye and dear to his heart. The very 
fervor of his manly love was made more intense by his 
dread of the portending evil, for he saw the luxury, the 
license, which come from great prosperity. Worship was 
becoming a form ; justice was corrupted by bribes ; the 
guardians of the fatherless defrauded them of their estates, 
and the cause of the widow was perverted in the seat of 
justice. Excess as well as corruption abounded. The 
wine-cup overflowed ; the wardrobe was crowded with em- 
broidered garments ; the arms and necks of the women 
blazed with jewelry ; and the fragrance of perfumery filled 
the air as, tinkling their ankle-chains, they passed in the 
streets. The general hypocrisy and corruption of those 
in office, both sacred and profane, in temple and in court, 
are described by the prophet in chapter i. 11-23. The 
extravagance of private life and the pride of display are 
depicted in flaming colors in chapter iii. 16-24. The 
certain consequences of such a state of things the prophet 
knew. They were written in letters of light in the law, 
and were prophesied in the premonitions of co?iscience. 

The prophet's heart burned within him to deliver his 
people and beloved city and Temple from the doom which 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 269 

was hovering over it as the eagle hovers over the lamb 
before it stoops upon its pinions and swoops down to bear 
away its prey. Darkness was round about him. How 
should he speak ? What should he say ? Speak he must. 
Cry aloud he must ; and yet wisdom closed his lips, silence 
sat on his tongue. Now it was that the vision of the ma- 
jesty of the Great Guardian of both city and people rose 
before him in a dream or a reverie. The Temple and all 
its consecrated courts and pillars and altars were trans- 
figured before him, and their earthly beauty was all aflame 
with heavenly splendors. The throne of the Great King 
of kings, even of Jehovah, God of hosts, was unveiled, 
and on it, high and lifted up, sat the Guardian of Israel 
in the majesty of his greatness. The train of his robe of 
state covered the Temple pavement. Around him stood 
seraphs. They bowed and veiled their faces, and covered 
their feet with their wings, and in responsive strains they 
cried : — 

" Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts, 
The whole earth is full of his glory." 

And as the notes of the great refrain rose among the 
arches, and broke upon the pillars, and poured through 
the courts, and were rolled back from the walls, the foun- 
dations of the Temple were shaken and the thresholds 
trembled. The incense rose in clouds from the golden 
altar and filled the holy place with fragrance. Fainting 
with awe, the prophet cried, " Alas for me ! I am un- 
done ! " He was a man of unclean lips, and unworthy to 
speak for God and righteousness. Then one of the seraphs 



2/0 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

took from the flaming altar with the golden tongs a glow- 
ing coal and touched the prophet's lips, and said to him, 
" Thine iniquity is taken away." With changed spirit the 
prophet rose and said, "Lord, send me. I will speak 
thy word. I will be thy messenger." The vision filled his 
heart with courage, and from this hour onward eloquence 
was on his tongue. The glowing coal was a symbol of the 
fervid language and glowing courage of the prophet. De- 
spair did not overcome him when he was told that his 
message would be rejected and the people persist in sin 
even until 

" The cities be laid waste so that there be no inhabitant, 
And the houses so that there be no man, 
And the land be left utterly desolate, 
Until Jehovah have removed the men far away, 
And there be great desolation in the land." 

But there was hope for his people in a distant future. 
Even though the tenth part of the people left after the 
ten tribes were carried captive should be conquered and 
removed, still a remnant would remain to once more 
flourish and grow up into a great nation holy unto the 
Lord, just as 

" When the terebinth and the oak are cut down, 
Their stem remaineth alive, 
So a holy race shall be the stem of the nation." 

By repentance, by sorrow, by the purification wrought 
by desolation and captivity, would a " remnant " be the 
" seed " of a great nation to return and build up the waste 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 2*J\ 

places, and plant the vineyards and heap the threshing- 
floors, and pile the altars with offerings ; and there should 
be no one to disturb or make afraid in all the land. 

So sublime is the language with which this greatest of 
the prophets dedicates himself to his work. If this is 
but the gate of the temple, what riches of imagination, 
what fervors of devotion, what glowing colors of descrip- 
tion, shall we not find when we cross the threshold ! 

This book is divided into two parts, very easily distin- 
guished from each other both by the style and the time 
of their composition. The first part includes chapters 
i.-xxxix., of which chapters xxxvi.-xxxix. are an historical 
appendix. The second part includes chapters xl.-lxvi. 
The first part may be divided again into three parts, — the 
first, including chapters i.-xii., relating to the Jews ; the 
second, including chapters xiii.-xxiii., relating to foreign 
nations ; and the third, including chapters xxiv.-xxxix., 
relating again to the Jews, and including the historical 
appendix xxxvi.-xxxix., substantially like 2 Kings xviii.-xx. 
Several passages of this first part are pretty evidently not 
the work of Isaiah, as chapters xiii., xiv., and xxiv.-xxvii., 
and the appendix which closes the first part. Several other 
passages are judged by good critics, with greater or less 
reason, not to be the work of our prophet, as chapters xv., 
xvi., and a part of xxi. The whole of the second part, 
chapters xl.-lxvi., is most evidently the work of another 
author, as appears from the style of the book and the fact 
that the writer assumes everywhere the present desolation 
of Jerusalem, the captivity in Babylon, and the immediate 



272 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

return of the captives. Any reader of the English Bible 
will notice, upon the most cursory reading, this difference 
between the two parts ; and there is now very little con- 
troversy on this subject among competent critics. The 
writer of this part is unknown ; and Ewald, with reference 
to the grandeur of his book, has called its author the 
"Great Unnamed." 

In only a few cases is it easy to determine the precise 
date of the prophecies of Isaiah in the first part. Of 
only two have we unquestioned historical assurance. 
The first is recorded in chapter vii., and was delivered 
in the reign of Ahaz, when Pekah and Rezin came up 
against Judah ; where Isaiah declares that before a child, 
soon to be born of the young wife by his side, shall be 
old enough to distinguish between good and evil, these 
two kings will be conquered, and their land made a 
prey. Assyria will ravage Syria and Israel, and leave 
them desolate, but afterward will that great and fierce 
people invade and desolate Judah for its sins. The child's 
name shall be God-with-us (Immanuel), as a sign that 
Jehovah will not now permit the kingdom to fall wholly 
into the hands of its invading foes. The animated and 
confident appeals of Isaiah roused the nation and assured 
the king. Their invaders finally retired to secure their 
own dominions from conquest. 

There is no ground for supposing any supernatural reve- 
lation to have been made to the mind of the prophet to 
enable him to announce this result. The signs of the 
times were too ominous to escape the notice of a true 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 273 

patriot and prophet. The gathering cloud of a terrible 
people, fierce and multiplying, and thirsting for conquest 
on the upper waters of the Tigris, before whose strength 
and attack the western kingdoms were dreading and trem- 
bling, was sufficient ground for Isaiah to say that these two 
kings would be compelled to retire and look after the 
safety of their own dominions, which they would not be 
able to secure ; and further, that after the ruin of the 
kingdoms the people of Judah would have cause to fear, 
nay, to know, that desolation would also cover their own 
land unless they made haste to repent, now that all barriers 
between them and the barbarous conquering hosts were 
removed. 

A wrong translation of this verse has led many to sup- 
pose that the child whose birth is here predicted was the 
Messiah ; and an equally incorrect interpretation of the 
quotations made in the New Testament from the Old 
has led readers to suppose that the citation of this pas- 
sage (Matthew i. 22, 23) proves that the prophet had 
the Messiah in his mind. What has been said about the 
method of quoting their old Scriptures by the Jews will 
enable the reader rightly to understand both the prophet 
and Matthew, and minute criticism must be remitted to 
the commentator. 

The second incident which demands particular notice 
occurred in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, 
and after Sargon had taken Samaria and carried Israel 
away captive. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, had won 
victory after victory over the nations, and was now muster- 

18 



2/4 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

ing all his forces to drive back the king of Egypt to his 
narrow domain on the Nile, and to take Judah from him 
for his own province. Poor Judah ! whose land was the 
camping-ground and battlefield of these two mighty nations. 
It was not quite safe to leave so strong a city as Jerusalem 
behind him untaken ; so the king sent his general, Rab- 
shakeh, to take it, if it would not surrender on demand. 
Terror and dismay filled the hearts of the citizens, and 
Hezekiah fainted with fear. Defiant demands and bar- 
barous threats were made by the fierce Assyrian. Isaiah 
alone stood firm, confident, trusting in God. He spoke 
words of hope and assurance to the king and to the peo- 
ple, and declared, in the name of the Lord, that the hosts 
of the enemy would perish and the king return to his own 
country. If we can rely upon the accuracy of the his- 
tory, all of this took place as predicted. Particulars are 
mentioned there of which Isaiah says nothing in his 
prophecy, and which must not be understood as having 
been foretold. The curing of Hezekiah must not be 
assumed to be a supernatural work, nor must we place 
confidence in the historian's account of the going back 
of the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz. This record is 
not the work of Isaiah, and may not have been made 
until some years afterward, when the facts were not under- 
stood, or certain figurative language was supposed to be 
literal. At all events, these two supposed miracles make 
no part of the writings of Isaiah, and very probably are 
the honest record of the traditions which had descended 
to the time of the writer. The main facts in the historical 



i 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 275 

part are doubtless correct, but some of the specific state- 
ments are open to more than doubt. 

That Jerusalem was not taken at this time, we know 
from the inscription on the tablets exhumed in Sennache- 
rib's palace. Before me is a representation of the king 
sitting on his throne before Lachish dooming the city to 
massacre, and thus reads the judgment : ' k Sennacherib, the 
mighty king, king of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judg- 
ment before the city of Lachish. I give permission for 
slaughter." And another tablet reads : " Because Heze- 
kiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came 
up against him, and by force of arms, and by might of my 
power, I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities ; and of 
the smaller towns which were scattered about I took a 
countless number. And from these places I captured and 
carried off as spoil 200,150 people, old and young, male 
and female, and camels and sheep, and oxen a countless 
multitude, and Hezekiah himself shut up in his capital 
city like a bird in a cage." Thus is the substance of the 
history confirmed by tablets which had been buried for 
twenty centuries. The deadly wind from the desert and 
the startling news from Assyria caused the boasting king 
to take sudden departure for his dominions. Colored by 
the imagination of the poet, the sudden departure of the 
army, and the death of so many of them by the blast from 
the desert, the whole transaction becomes the special in- 
terposition of Jehovah in behalf of the beleaguered city, as 
viewed and expressed by the pious spirit of the citizens. 

The style of the prophet is not excelled in vigor and sub- 



276 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

limity by that of any other writer, nor is it rivalled by any, 
unless it be by that of the author of the Book of Job. It is 
graphic, terse, and throbs with emotion everywhere, some- 
times melting with tenderness, sometimes glowing with 
indignation. What power of description in chapters ii. 
10-22 ; iv. 2-6 ! How graphic his parable of the vineyard 
(chapter v. 1-7) and the consequences of revelling (chap- 
ter v. n-17, 20-25) ! How startlingly he describes the 
summoning of the hosts of Jehovah, by whose agency 
these terrible deeds shall be done (chapter v. 26-30) ! 
Read his description of the offensive nature of their wor- 
ship (chapter i. 11-23), an( ^ °f the frippery of their dress 
(chapter iii. 1 6-24), and learn how this writer, twenty-five 
centuries ago, could paint the loftiest as well as the lowest 
incidents and acts in colors which will never fade, and 
which hold fast the admiration of the ages. 

The second part, as already stated, includes chapters 
xl.-lxvi., and was written a century and a half or two cen- 
turies after the first part, as both the style and the historic 
references show. Babylon and Persia and Cyrus are the 
themes of this part, — not Assyria and Syria and Israel. 
Jerusalem is desolate, and the land of Judah is waste, and 
the people are about returning from captivity to build up 
the waste places. A few quotations will call the reader's 
attention to other similar passages which will be found 
scattered through the prophecy : — 

" Thus saith Jehovah . . . Jerusalem shall be inhabitedy 
And the cities of Judah shall be built, 
And the desolate places I will restore, 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 2*]7 

And the temple, her foundations shall be laid. 

Cyrus is my shepherd. 

He shall perform my pleasure." — xliv. 26-28. 

" Jehovah will have pity upon Zion ; 
He will have pity upon all her desolations ; 
He will make her wilderness like Eden, 
Her desert like the garden of Jehovah." — li. 3. 

" Arise, sit erect, O Jerusalem, . . . 
O captive daughter of Zion. . . . 

Break forth into joy, shout together, ye ruins of Jerusalem, 
For Jehovah hath pity on his people. 
Depart, depart ye ; go ye out from thence. . . . 
Nor in flight shall ye pass along, 
For Jehovah shall march in your front." — lii. 2, 9, II, 12. 

" They shall build up the old ruins ; 
They shall raise up the ancient desolations, 
They shall repair the cities laid waste." — lxi. 4. 

" No more shalt thou be called the Desolate 
And thy land the Forsaken." — lxii. 4. 

" Thy holy cities have become a wilderness ; 
Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 
Our holy and glorious house, 
Where our fathers praised thee, 
Is burned with fire, 
And all our precious things are laid waste." — lxiv. 10, II. 

But the time to return and rebuild the city has fully 
come. Cyrus is God's servant to deliver them from cap- 
tivity, and the prophet lifts up his voice of command : 

" Come ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the land of the Chal- 
deans with a voice of joy. . . . 

Say, Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob ; 

They thirst not in the deserts through which he leadeth them." — 
xlviii. 20, 21. 



278 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

The nations are called upon to prepare the way for the 
emancipated captives : — 

" Pass ye, pass ye through the gates ; 
Prepare the way for the people ; 
Cast ye up, cast ye up the highway, 
Clear it of stones ; 
Lift up on high the standard for the tribes." — lxii. 10. 

" Thus shall the ransomed of Jehovah return ; 
They shall come to Zion with singing, 
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away." — li. 11. 

" Comfort ye my people, saith your God, 
And declare to her, Jerusalem, 
That her hard service is ended, 
That her iniquity is expiated. . . . 
Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah, 
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God : 
Every valley shall be exalted, 
And every mountain shall be made low ; 
The crooked shall become straight, 
And the rough places plain." — xl. 1-4. 

The time when this part of the book was written is evi- 
dent. It was during the period when Cyrus was marching 
upon Babylon, and after he had taken it and the captives 
were permitted to return to their desolated country. The 
people had suffered all the sorrows and homesickness of 
captivity, and the burden of this prophet's addresses is 
to inspire them with fortitude and hope ; for, as the 
promise of Jehovah in their law was true, deliverance 
would come, — nay, was coming : Cyrus, God's servant, 
chosen for this work, was already approaching to besiege 
and take the proud city of Babylon. No specific events 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 279 

are predicted, and the whole prophecy takes its topics 
and coloring and confidence from passing events, obvious 
future revolutions, and the fundamental law of the nation. 
The style of this " great unknown, or unnamed," 
prophet differs from that of the Isaiah of the first part as 
the current of the river Niagara differs from its rapids. 
The elder Isaiah is vehement, impassioned, abrupt, sym- 
bolic, in his style. His sentences break asunder by the 
pressure of the thought, and melt by the heat of the emo- 
tion. He strides along upon the mountain-tops, and 
rides upon the storm. On the other hand, the later 
prophet pours out his thought in a majestic stream, so 
strong as to be broken by no obstacle, so deep as to be 
tossed by no roughness of its bed. His tone is lofty and 
grand; and though he indulges in no visions, his meta- 
phors and similes are at times original and startling. He 
encourages and soothes in the tones of a mother. He re- 
bukes and condemns in the tones of a judge. He unfolds 
the rich promises of Jehovah in the most mellifluous sen- 
tences, as winning as they are sweet. And when he lifts 
the curtain of the future and reveals the restored Jerusa- 
lem, the rebuilt villages, the waste places luxuriant with 
vineyards and harvest-fields, he rises into strains of grati- 
tude and assurance which thrill the heart after the pas- 
sage of twenty-five centuries. He describes and satirizes 
the manufacture of false gods in a tone of scorn and 
language of contempt unsurpassed by any modern writer. 
And if he described, as I think he did, the destruction 
of Babylon and the descent of her king to the under- 



280 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

world, given in the first part, he stands without a rival 
— certainly without a superior — in the literature of the 
ages. 

There is one passage in the first part which requires 
separate consideration ; and the second part should not be 
laid aside until an inquiry has been made respecting " the 
servant of the Lord," so often mentioned in it. Isaiah ix. 
1-7 is supposed by many commentators to be a specific 
prediction of the Messiah, the great king who was to sit 
on David's throne. This opinion is founded largely upon 
the quotation of the passage in Matthew iv. 13-16, in which 
our Saviour is said to have come " to Capernaum, which 
is upon the sea-coast in the borders of Zebulun and 
Nephthalim : that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
by Esaias the prophet, saying," — and then the verses 1 
and 2 of Isaiah are imperfectly quoted. The fact that this 
quotation is here made, and the language applied to our 
Saviour's going into Capernaum in that region, is no proof 
whatever that Matthew understood Isaiah as foretelling 
this event. Hosea is quoted in a still stronger formula in 
Matthew ii. 15, where it is evident that the passage is quoted 
rhetorically, as adding force to the style by the singular ap- 
propriateness of a phrase in Hosea to a transaction in 
Matthew. If the passage in Isaiah refers to our Saviour, 
it must be shown to do so by its place in the prophecy. 

How, then, does the passage stand in that? It seems 
that some enemy (Rezin, king of Syria, or the king of 
Assyria) had just invaded Israel and laid waste this part 
of that people's territory, as is hinted or implied in the 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 28 1 

previous chapter, which should have contained also the 
first seven verses of this chapter. The prophet promises 
them that this will not long be, for a king will soon appear, 
— nay, is now born, — who will scourge back the in- 
vaders and deliver the people with a great victory; that 
peace will follow his conquests, and joy fill the hearts 
of the nation. So noble will be his character, so grand 
his conquests, and so crushed his enemies, that he can 
rightly be called " Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty Poten- 
tate [Hero, God], Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace , " 
that the king who will be worthy of these titles and win 
these honors "is \_now~\ born," — not to be born, — "is 
\fiow\ given," — not to be given. Therefore, be of good 
cheer, faint not : the dawn of the day of your deliverance 
is even now glowing on the summits of Hermon. 

Some writers are of opinion that Hezekiah, now a lad, 
was the " child " — the " son " — alluded to, and, in the 
language of modern days, coi?tplimented by Isaiah ; for 
the reign of Hezekiah was a good and prosperous one for 
the times. It is objected that such language could not 
be used of any merely human being. But the objector 
forgets that this is poetry, — and not this only, but that 
it is Orie?ttal poetry, the qualities of which have been fully 
discussed. Much less fulsome, and much less offensive 
to our tastes, is the language here used, if addressed to 
a young prince or spoken of him, than the language 
which Orientals often use of their nobles and kings. 
To interpret this language of Isaiah literally, as sober 
prose, would be a grievous wrong to the old prophet, 



282 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

and a most flagrant violation of the plainest rules of her- 
meneutics. The two words which are here translated 
" Mighty God " in our version are the same as are used 
in the name Gabriel. This name does not signify the 
nature or rank of the person. If it did, we might say 
that Elijah was Jehovah, for his name signifies " my God 
Jehovah," or "Jehovah my God." Indeed, every name 
in the Old Testament ending in "ah " or " jah " signifies 
some relation to Jehovah. This is too well known to all 
scholars to need illustration. Jesus is never elsewhere 
called by any of the names here applied to the present 
triumphant king. 

The passage was spoken for the encouragement of the 
people when in distress, and the promise made that a 
prince the?i born — Hezekiah or some other — would win 
for them blessing, reign worthily of a successor of David, 
and receive high titles of distinction for his virtues and 
conquests. 

" The servant of the Lord," who was he, — especially 
as described in chapters lii. 13-liii. 12? To answer this 
question fully would require more space than can be given 
to it here. Critics are divided in opinion, and volumes 
have been written upon the subject. It must suffice here 
to give the briefest possible answer, without going into 
particulars or proofs. The reader must fill out these out- 
lines by his own personal study of the passage, and of the 
usage of the word " servant " by this writer in the pre- 
vious chapters of this second part ; for he begins to use 
the word in chapter xli. 8, 9, and continues to employ it 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 283 

to chapter liv., when he personifies the nation as a woman 
(chapter xlix., "daughter of Zion"), and closes these 
personifications with the rousing call to the people to 
return and enjoy the blessings of peace and plenty in their 
own land, in chapter lv. The " servant " is the chosen 
people, Israel, personified, as appears from xli. 8, 9 : — 

" But thou, O Israel my servant, 
Thou, Jacob, whom I have chosen, . . . 
And said to thee, Thou art my servant." 

And xliv. 1, 2 : — 

" Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant^ 
And Israel whom I have chosen." 

And xliii. 10 : — 

" Ye [the people] are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, 
And my servant whom I have chosen." 

And xlii. 18, 19 : — 

" Hear, O ye deaf, 
And look, ye blind, and see ! 
Who is blind, if not my servant ? 
"Who so deaf as my messenger whom I send? " 

The reader will observe that when the people are in 
the prophet's mind, and directly addressed, the plural 
pronoun ye is used ; but in close connection, when the 
people or nation are personified, they are called " servant," 



" It pleased Jehovah, for his goodness' sake, 
To give him a law great and glorious ; 
And yet it is a robbed and plundered people. 



284 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

In chapters xliv. 21 ; xlv. 4; xlviii. 20; xlix. 3, 6, the 
people are directly called or implied to be the servant of 
Jehovah. This is the chosen, the ideal nation, God's be- 
loved, not the real, actual people ; though sometimes this 
writer, in his long description of thirteen chapters, appears 
to forget himself, and, thinking of the mass of idolatrous 
people, — the sinning, God-forsaking nation, — speaks of 
the servant as deaf and blind; but this is not the 
rule, and is a deviation from the figure or personification 
with which the prophet starts, and to which he very closely 
adheres, when we consider the perilous length of the 
personification. 

What happens to God's chosen, elect people, happens of 
course to its personification, or servant. The careful 
reader of the passage between chapter xl. and chapter 
lii. 12 will find that this servant is spoken of as " feeble," 
a "worm," "afflicted," "'despised," against whom men 
were "enraged." He is said to be "poor " and "needy," 
"blind" and "deaf," the "friend of God," yet "robbed," 
" plundered," a " spoil," bound in prison and a " prisoner," 
a "curse," a "reproach," "reviled by men," yet a "friend," 
beloved of God, " chosen." Ideally, the people are 
God's chosen servant for the enlightenment of all na- 
tions. Actually, they are a sinful people, rebellious, guilty, 
captive. 

It may be well just here to call attention to the personi- 
fication of the people as a woman, a handmaid, though this 
word is not used. She is spoken of in chapters xlix., 1., and 
li., as "childless," "unfruitful," an "exile," an "outcast," 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 285 

as "oppressed," as "divorced," as dismissed for the "sins 
of the people," as having drunk the cup of Jehovah's fury 
to the dregs, as "afflicted," as "deserted," as " captive," as 
to be "ransomed." The handmaid is described as suffer- 
ing the same things as the "servant." Both are described 
as despised and rejected of men. The " servant " says, 

" I gave my back to the smiters 
And my cheeks to them that pluck the beard, 
And hid not my face from shame and spitting." — li. 6. 

All this is the personification of the people represented as 
suffering, since it was what the people themselves suffered. 
There is not anything said of the servant in chapters 
Hi. 13-liii. which is not said or implied in the previous 
representations, except that in this section the prophet, 
by exclusion of other matter, is able to condense into one 
sad picture all he has said before, and give it such other 
touches as would make it bold and expressive. The 
burial of the " servant," as he represents the nation, is 
no bolder figure than Ezekiel uses (chapter xxxvii. 12, 
13) respecting the nation: "Behold, O my people, I will 
open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your 
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye 
shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your 
graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your 
graves, and shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live, 
and I shall place you in your own land." Hosea (xiii. 14) 
uses the same strong figure of a conquered nation. 

But we are not here writing a commentary on the 
prophecy of Isaiah. It is sufficient to say that, bearing 



286 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

in mind the previous use of the word " servant," and his 
character and treatment, this account of his sufferings, 
death, rescue, and prosperity can be understood of the 
conquest, captivity, suffering, release, and future pros- 
perity of the Jewish nation. 

It should be said further, before leaving the subject, that 
the application of many of the passages to our Saviour's 
life and sufferings is in perfect accordance with the prin- 
ciple and methods of quoting the earlier Scriptures, which 
have already been fully explained, and by no means affords 
any proof that our Saviour was the " servant of the Lord " 
here spoken of. Besides, it is evident on the most cursory 
reading that all this disgrace and suffering had already 
been endured ; for the verbs describing it are in the past 
tense, while the blessings to flow upon the servant, as also 
upon the handmaid, as described in chapter liv., are de- 
scribed as to come, — in the future tense. This fact alone 
would settle the question whether our Saviour was the 
"servant" described in chapters lii. 13-liii. 

Section V. — Micah. 

Of the life of this prophet very little is known. He is 
said, in the introduction to his prophecies, to have been 
" a Morasthite," and to have prophesied " in the days of 
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, . . . con- 
cerning Judah and Jerusalem." The village of which he is 
here said to be a native lay southwesterly of Jerusalem, on 
the borders of the desert. It was in a rural district ; and 
the style of Micah, as is that of Amos, is made delightfully 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 287 

picturesque with images drawn from country life. The 
herds, the vineyards, the flocks, the olive-trees, furnish him 
with abundant and striking symbols of truth, and confirm 
the statement of the anonymous inscription that he was 
of rural origin. It is also evident that he was familiar 
with the city of Jerusalem and its temple. He was a con- 
temporary of Hosea and Isaiah ; and the same circum- 
stances in the condition and history of the nation called 
forth from him similar rebukes, threatenings, and prom- 
ises. He is mentioned by name only once, Jeremiah xxvi. 
18, where his prophecy, Micah hi. 12, is quoted. Isaiah 
also quotes Micah iv. 1-3, in chapter ii. 2-4, but without 
calling the prophet by name ; or perhaps Micah quotes 
Isaiah; or possibly both quote some prophet whose 
writings have not been preserved. 

Most of Micah's prophecies appear to have been deliv- 
ered in the reign of Hezekiah and after the fall of Samaria. 
The prophet lived, therefore, in times of extreme peril 
to his nation. The Assyrian was hovering on its eastern 
borders and the Egyptian was crouching on the south. 
The soil of Judah was trodden into barrenness by the ad- 
vancing and retreating armies. To make a league with one 
kingdom was to provoke war with the other ; and to attempt 
to be independent was to invite the hostility of both. 

Lamentation for sin and call to repentance, annunciation 
of captivity and promise of restoration, — these are the 
themes of Micah's poetic discourses. The book may be 
divided into three parts. The first part, consisting of two 
chapters, opens with a sublime theophany : — 



288 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

" Behold Jehovah cometh forth from his dwelling-place ; 
The mountains melt under him, 
And the valleys cleave asunder, 
Like wax before the fire, 
Like waters poured down a precipice," 

because of the sins of the nation. The prophet therefore 
calls upon all the cities to weep and lament and roll them- 
selves in the dust on account of their transgressions. The 
people contrive evil upon their beds, they covet fields, 
they take by violence, they acquire by fraud, they reduce 
to poverty, make children naked, and foolishly listen to 
false prophets, which so stirs the indignation of Micah 
that he exclaims in bitterest sarcasm : — 

" If a man follow wind and invent falsehood, and say, 
' I will prophesy to thee of wine and strong drink ' ! 
He will be the prophet for this people." 

Still, God will hear them and deliver them if they will 
repent. So the first part closes with promises. 

The second part, iii.-v., is addressed to the chief men 
and princes, and false prophets ; especially are the judges 
most vehemently rebuked for their partiality in adminis- 
tering justice : — 

" Ye hate what is good and love what is evil; 
Ye tear from men their skin ! 
Yea, their flesh from their bones ! " 

And, not relieved by the utterance of these terrible meta- 
phors to illustrate the cruelty and express his hatred of 
these ancient merciless monsters, he bursts forth again 
more vehemently, — 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 289 

" Ye devour the flesh of my people, 
And strip from their skin, 
And break their bones, 
And cut them in pieces 
As flesh for the caldron ! " 

As they are deaf to the cry of their victims, so Jehovah 
will be deaf to their cries. 

To the false prophets who are crying, " Peace, peace, 
when there is no peace," he says : " Night shall come 
upon you, and darkness, and the day shall be dark to 
you." The seers shall all be ashamed, and the diviners 
shall be confounded, and hide their faces. 

" Zion shall be as a ploughed field because of you, 
And Jerusalem a heap of stones." 

But not always will Zion be as a ploughed field, nor 
Jerusalem as a heap of stones ; for in coming days all the 
ruins shall be rebuilt, and become the " umpire of many 
kingdoms," and peace shall wave her olive-branch over 
all the nations. Jehovah's name will be held in supreme 
honor, as the scattered captives return and build again 
their altars and offer again their sacrifices. David's pos- 
terity will continue to reign, as promised in the days of old. 
The house of Bethlehem, David's house, shall give a ruler 
of the royal line, and he shall rule in wisdom and peace 
over his own people ; but he will be as a lion among the 
flocks to his enemies. 

The third part, vi., vii., opens with the boldest of even 
Oriental figures, representing Jehovah as holding an argu- 
ment with his people, and calling upon the mountains and 

19 



290 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

the hills and the foundations of the earth to hear and judge 
between him and his people ; and closes the discussion 
with that sublime and masterly summary of God's require- 
ments, which finds a response in every sincere heart : — 

" What doth Jehovah require of thee, 
But to do justly, and to love mercy, 
And to walk humbly before thy God ? " 

The prophet now describes their degraded condition, 
their scanty measures, their wicked scales, their deceitful 
weights, their merciless oppressions and shameless lying, 
and announces the terrible chastisement which will come 
upon the people, at a recital of which his heart breaks, 
and he sobs : — 

" Woe is me ! There is no cluster to eat ; 
I long for the first ripe fig. . . . 
The good man is perished from the land ; 
They all lie in wait for blood ! " 

All domestic privacy, fidelity, and security are lost. A 
man's foes are his own household. But though Jerusalem 
shall be trodden as mire in the streets, the day will come 
when the captive people shall be gathered from Assyria 
and the cities of Egypt, and with triumphal joy once 
more inhabit the land of their fathers. 

Ritualism, formalism, sacrifices, fastings, are of no ac- 
count with Micah. Justice, uprightness, mercifulness, 
filialness, these are the supreme things, limited to no 
nation, limited to no time, — solid integrity both Godward 
and man ward. 

He appeals for his authority to God's law, the law of 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 29 1 

the great lawgiver Moses, and the law written on the 
heart. He claims no special illumination from God when 
he uses the common language of piety and trust. He 
foretells nothing which human sagacity, enlightened by 
the law and experience, would not anticipate. He is a 
preacher of righteousness, and grandly does he speak his 
word. 

The quotations made in the New Testament are to be 
interpreted by the rules already given. Micah v. 2-4 == 
Matthew ii. 6 ; Micah vii. 6. = Matthew x. 35. 

Section VI. — Nahum. 

Of Nahum nothing is known except what is said in the 
note prefixed to his prophecy, — that he was an Elkoshite ; 
but the site of his native village is unknown, some writers 
conjecturing it was in Assyria, and some that it was in 
Galilee. 

His prophecy is very brief, only three short chapters, 
and is probably but a fragment of what he wrote. Yet 
judging by his style and subject he must have been one 
of the foremost prophets of the nation. He lived in the 
latter part of the reign of Hezekiah, and had seen 
the splendors of the army of Assyria and the gleam of 
the spears of her horsemen ; the shouting of the captains 
had stunned his ears. The mortified and discomfited 
king, Sennacherib, still plotted the destruction of Judah 
and the pillage of Jerusalem. His great and proud city, 
Nineveh, boasted herself above all other cities, and was 



292 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

filled and enriched by the plunder of nations. Against 
her, the proud, the lofty, the rich, Nahum lifts up his 
voice to encourage his own people. Surrounded by the 
smoking ruins of cities just ravaged and pillaged by the 
Assyrian, he sends his lofty words of defiance across 
the desert to Nineveh, and announces its desolation. 
The flaming scroll of his prophecy flew through the 
heavens like the avenging angel in the Apocalypse, carry- 
ing mourning, lamentation, and woe in its illuminated 
sentences : — 

" Nineveh is laid waste ! 
Who will bemoan her ? 
Woe to the city of blood ! . . . 
She hath become void, empty, and desolate ; 
All that hear thee shall clap their hands ! " 

And when over the doomed city its fiery lines paled and 
disappeared, the last syllable of prophecy ceased from the 
kingdom of Israel. Of this great and renowned city we 
hear no more in prophecy. Under this doom Nineveh 
sinks to desolation, and its ruins, buried under the dust 
of twenty centuries, are now uncovered to verify the an- 
nunciations of this awful curse and wail of Nahum. City 
and prophet have both perished from the knowledge of 
men, — save this fragment of Hebrew writing and these 
broken tablets of Assyrian inscription. 

It is vain to make quotations from this prophet to illus- 
trate the elevation and boldness of his style. The whole 
book must be read in connection to appreciate it. 

There is no evidence that Nahum was inspired, in the 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 293 

usual sense of that word. He makes no claim to any 
such inspiration, nor does any one make it for him who 
has any authority to speak in his behalf. 

Section VII. — Zephaniah. 

Nothing whatever is known of this prophet except 
the information given in the anonymous introduction 
(chapter i. 1), where he is said to be " the son of Cushi, 
the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of 
Hizkiah," who prophesied "in the days of Josiah, the 
son of Anion, the king of Judah." We know no better 
who he was by this genealogy ; for there were so many 
persons of these names that the right one cannot with any 
certainty be selected. He denounces idolatry with great 
vehemence, and probably lived before the great reforma- 
tion under Josiah, and when the nation was wholly given 
up to idolatry. 

The prophecy is very brief, but it is a most precious 
fragment of Hebrew poetry, and contains some passages 
of great beauty and sublimity. Each of the three chapters 
may be considered as a separate poem. 

The prophet threatens Judah with punishment and ex- 
horts to repentance to avert it, declaring that the enemies 
of Judah shall also be punished, and specifies the cities 
which shall be overthrown and laid waste ; but closes with 
the promise that the " scattered shall be gathered, and 
brought back from every land, and made a name and 
a praise among all the nations of the earth." 



294 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

This prophecy contains nothing demanding supernatural 
illumination for its utterance. It is never quoted in the 
New Testament. 



Section VIII. — Habakkuk. 

Of the life and residence of this prophet we know ab- 
solutely nothing. His early editor does not tell us his 
ancestry, if he knew it. He lived later than Zephaniah 
and Nahum, for he makes no allusion to the Assyrians. 
The great Chaldean kingdom is now rising into almost 
unchallenged supremacy, and Babylon succeeds to the 
glory of Nineveh. It is against these barbarous con- 
querors that the prophet lifts up his voice in indignant 
description and denunciation. Conquerors as they were, 
the prophet believes that Jehovah will not permit them 
to be victorious forever, but that he will rise in his power 
in due time and humble their pride and destroy their proud 
city. So he stands upon the watch-tower and watches, 
and the answer comes, that waste and desolation shall 
visit the haughty people. At this answer the heart of the 
prophet bursts forth in a lyric poem in honor of Jehovah, 
which surpasses all prophetic utterances on record, and is 
without a rival in the literature of the world. " The entire 
ancient history of the Jews," says Eichhorn, " with all its 
great and wonderful scenes, lends him ideas and images. 
All that is terrible and grand flows together in one stream. 
He contends with words ; he struggles with images ; and 
who is not seized with a holy shudder as he reads, — 






INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 295 

like that of the sacred prophet as he saw the sublime and 
terrible appearance of the Indescribable ? Paint it better 
who can ! " This sublime lyric is the third chapter of his 
prophecy. Whatever may befall, however waste the deso- 
lation may be, he exclaims, — 

" Yet will I rejoice in Jehovah, 
I will exult in God, my helper. 
He will make my feet like the hind's, 
And cause me to walk upon the high places." 

With such a sublime expression of trust does the prophet 
conclude this grandest of prophecies. Admirable preacher 
of righteousness ! The loftiness of thy faith exceeds the 
loftiness of thy verse y for when armies were ravaging thy 
land, and the pastures were deserted, and the stalls empty, 
and the vineyard trampled, and the wine-press broken 
down, and the fig-tree bare, and the day darkness, thou 
didst yet trust in the Lord and confide in the God of 
Israel ! 

There is no evidence of divine aid in this prophecy, nor 
does the prophet claim any. The quotations in the New 
Testament are all to be interpreted by the rules already 
laid down and illustrated. 

Section IX. — Obadiah. 

Of this prophet we know nothing, and but one brief frag- 
ment of his prophecies has come down to us. That he 
wrote this prophecy after the destruction of Jerusalem 
and the captivity of Judah, or after 588 b. c, appears from 



296 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

verse 11, — " In the day that thou stoodest on the other 
side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his 
forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots 
upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them." He 
was contemporary with Jeremiah. He prophesies the de- 
struction of Edom for its sympathy with the conquerors of 
Judah, and announces the destruction of their chief city, 
Petra. It is very much like Jeremiah xlix. 7-22. The 
theme is the same. The style is very vigorous, and causes 
regret that more of his prophecies have not reached us. 
Of inspiration there is no hint nor need. 

Section X. — Jeremiah, 

We know more of Jeremiah than of any other of the 
prophets. He was the son of the priest Hilkiah, and was 
of course himself a priest. He prophesied in the reign of 
the reforming king, Josiah, 638-603 b. c. ; in the reigns 
of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, 603-597 b. c. ; in those of 
Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, 597-588 b. c. ; and after the cap- 
tivity, 588-583 B.C., — covering a period of about fifty 
years. Though his prophecies may be divided into three 
classes, — (1) Those delivered before the destruction of 
Jerusalem, chapters i.-xxxix. ; (2) Those after it, chap- 
ters xl.-xlv. ; (3) Those against foreign nations, chapters 
xlvi.-lii., — still, the better plan is to follow the order of 
the reigns of the kings, or the life of the prophet during 
each reign. 

The prophecies are not arranged in chronological order, 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 297 

and no rule appears to have guided the compiler, or else 
the order has been sadly disturbed by time and careless 
handling. Under Josiah's reign are included chapters 
iii. 6-vi. ; under Jehoiakim's, chapters xxv., xxvi., xxxv., 
xxxvi., xlv. ; under Zedekiah's, chapters xxi., xxiv., xxvii.- 
xxix., xxxii.-xxxiv., xxxvii. 8, xxxviii., L, li. ; after the cap- 
tivity, chapters xl.-xlii., xlvii.-xlix. ; and in Egypt, chap- 
ters xliii. 8, xliv., 1. 8, li. This is a tolerably correct 
arrangement of so many of these prophecies as give any 
certain clew to their date. The date of the remainder 
must be left in uncertainty ; for it is only misleading to 
arrange them by guessing, as is often done. 

Taking up the chronological order, after noticing the 
call of Jeremiah to his prophetic office in the first chapter 
and his expostulation with Judah for her sins, the prophe- 
cies delivered in the reign of Josiah come first in order. 
Jeremiah by two symbols announces his call to the pro- 
phetic office, — the one, the appearance of an " almond 
rod," which signifies watchfulness, and the other by a 
" boiling pot whose face is turned toward the north," signify- 
ing that from the north the ferocious hosts would pour 
forth and desolate the land and assail the city. 

This is undoubtedly one of those cases in which the 
writer introduces a symbol to render forcible his thought. 
It is not probable that either the " rod " or the " boiling 
pot" was really seen either in dream or vision. Jere- 
miah's style abounds in what in our day would be called 
rhetorical devices of this kind to render his prophecies 
graphic and cogent. 



298 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

It will be remembered that during the reign of Josiah 
the half-century or more of idolatrous worship and dese- 
cration of the Temple was ended, the idols thrown down, 
the Temple purified, and the ritual again observed, as 
far as the changed circumstances of the people rendered 
possible, by the discovery by Hilkiah, the priest, of the lost 
inscribed roll of the Mosaic law. The prophecy, iii. 6-vi., 
appears to have been delivered before the reformation 
took place, for the sins and idolatries of the people are 
very sternly denounced, and Israel is spoken of as suffer- 
ing just punishment for having led her sister Judah astray. 
The prophet calls upon Israel to repent, and promises her 
release from her punishment. Most vehemently does he 
rebuke Judah and call upon her to repent, lest the spoiler 
suddenly come upon her. The prophecy takes, the form 
of a dialogue between the prophet, Jehovah, and the 
people. 

Chapters vii.-ix. have no date attached to them, and no 
references are made in them to historical incidents which 
enable us to fix the precise time of their delivery. But as 
the theme is the same, and the Temple is not destroyed, it 
is probable that this sermon, delivered in the " gate of the 
Temple," should be dated at about the same time as the 
previous one, — in the reign of Josiah. The prophet an- 
nounces that Jehovah will not suffer the people to fall into 
the hands of their enemies if they will repent ; and he 
insists upon the necessity of their repenting in sackcloth 
and ashes, painting in the boldest colors their sins and 
shameful idolatries, and the defilement of their own wor- 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 299 

ship, which has made their very sacrifices an abomination 
to Jehovah. They also were fraudulent, deceivers, liars, 
treacherous, adulterers ; both men and women were pol- 
luted. Yet Jehovah exercises lovingkindness, and will 
forgive the penitent ; therefore the prophet cries, " Turn 
from your sins and trust in Jehovah." 

In chapter x. 1-16, there is a most sarcastic description 
of the manufacture of an idol, and a contrast of it with the 
true God, Jehovah, which reminds the reader of Isaiah's 
graphic description, chapter xliv. The chapter concludes 
with threatening the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
laying it wholly waste. 

Chapters ix.-xiii. contain severe rebukes of idolatry and 
terrible denunciations of punishment against idolaters. 
Plunderers will come ; no man will have peace ; they sow 
wheat but reap thorns ; " I ^n'^. pluck them out of their land, 
saith Jehovah ; " and then, under the symbol of a girdle 
buried by the river Euphrates, the prophet indicates the 
captivity, and by that of a flagon full of wine the amount 
and severity of their punishment as equalling their sins ; 
they must drain the cup of misery to its dregs. The 
bitterness and the intensity of Jehovah's indignation at 
their disgusting and abominable conduct is expressed in 
the strongest words. 

In chapters xiv., xv., are related the desolation and 
suffering caused by a famine which had come upon the 
land on account of the people's sins. This description 
is given in part in the form of a dialogue between the 
prophet and Jehovah. So terrible is the famine that 



300 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

" The husbandmen are ashamed, 
They hide their heads. 
The hind deserteth her young, 
The wild asses stand upon the hills, 
They snuff up wind like jackals, 
Their eyes fail because there is no grass." 

All this accords with Deuteronomy, chapters xxvii., xxviii. 

Then in chapters xvi., xvii., the captivity of the people 
is threatened because they violate the laws and walk after 
strange gods ; but Jehovah is merciful, and when the 
people turn to him he will bring them back from their 
captivity, Jerusalem shall be inhabited forever, and kings 
shall sit upon the throne of David. 

Under the type of a potter fashioning clay, in chapters 
xviii.-xx., the prophet illustrates how nations are formed 
and broken in the hands of Jehovah, and he warns the peo- 
ple to repent and escape destruction. For this prophecy, 
Pashur, a priest, who was chief overseer of the house of 
Jehovah, smote Jeremiah and put him in the stocks. But 
the next day, when he took him out, Jeremiah told him 
that all his friends should be smitten by the sword before 
his eyes, and that he should be carried away captive to 
Babylon and die there. 

In chapter xxi., we have a reliable date placing the follow- 
ing prophecy in the reign of Zedekiah, when the enemy 
was hovering on the borders of the land, and the mighty 
king, Nebuchadnezzar, was mustering his hosts for battle. 
Zedekiah sends Pashur to ask Jeremiah what will come to 
pass. Destruction hangs over the city. Captivity of the 
citizens and of the king is imminent. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 301 

In chapters xxi.-xxiv. the prophet denounces different 
classes of citizens, different officers and priests. His 
words are as coals of fire as he speaks of the hypocrisy 
and cruelty of rulers. Especially does he pour out the 
living coals of his indignation upon the false prophets. 
Glimpses of future blessing, however, are given through 
the rifts in these black clouds of judgment. The symbol 
of two baskets of figs closes this prophecy. 

In chapters xxv., xxvi., we have an historical account 
of what Jeremiah had suffered during this period of his 
prophetic life, and the causes which led to his punishment. 
And in xxvii. he is said to make for himself bonds and 
yokes, to illustrate how severely the nation would suffer in 
captivity when they were carried away to Babylon. In 
chapter xxviii. Jeremiah denounces the false prophet 
Hananiah, who was deceiving the king, in language 
which must have made his ears tingle, and which shamed 
him to death. 

Jeremiah writes an epistle to the captives in Babylon, 
which is contained in chapter xxix., predicting that after 
seventy years they would be released, and the throne of 
David be re-established, and warns them against trusting 
two lying prophets. 

Chapters xxx.-xxxiii. contain prophecies of the restora- 
tion of the Jewish state : — 

" Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, 
That the city shall be built ; 
It shall be holy to Jehovah. . 
No more shall it be plucked up 
Or thrown down forever" 



302 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

These last lines remind us that we are reading poetry, 
and must not interpret it as prose. Jerusalem has been 
thrown down for almost two thousand years. It was 
thrown down within six centuries of the time of the deliv- 
ery of this prophecy. In the first verses of chapter xxx. 
Jeremiah is directed to write his words in a book, as if he 
had not done it heretofore. 

Chapters xxxii., xxxiii. are said to belong to the tenth 
year of Zedekiah's reign. The former is largely historical 
and prose, and treats of the buying of a field as a symbol 
of the ultimate rescue from captivity and a prediction of 
their certain removal to Babylon. The latter is a pre- 
diction, in poetry, of return from exile, delivered while 
Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the prison. Not till 
day and night cease will Jehovah cast off his people. He 
"will bring them back from captivity and have mercy 
upon them." Chapters xxxiv.-xlv. are historical, and do 
not appear to have come from the pen of Jeremiah, but 
to have been written by some one who desired to fill out 
his biography by telling what was understood to have be- 
fallen him during this disturbed period. The main facts 
are probably trustworthy ; but the particulars should be re- 
ceived with great caution. They show that Jeremiah was a 
hero as well as a prophet : not all tears, but some muscle. 

Chapters xlvi.-li. contain prophecies against foreign 
nations, the particulars of which it is not necessary to 
state. There is nothing obscure in them which needs 
clearing up. The last chapter, li., is historical again, and 
its minute statements are to be taken with caution. It is 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 303 

these historical portions of the book which trouble the 
commentator, and not the poetical portions. Baruch is 
said to have written out for Jeremiah his prophecies, and 
these are probably entirely trustworthy; but the sayings 
attributed to him in the historical sections have not his 
authority, and very probably are incorrect. Many of 
them could not have been written till several years, if not 
a whole generation, had passed ; and as they are anony- 
mous, it is impossible to tell whether their reporter was 
a hearer of them, or only reported the common opinion 
and tradition. The reader must draw a very broad line 
between the prophecies of Jeremiah and these historical 
notes of the editor of his prophecies. 

The style of Jeremiah is poor compared with that of 
the early prophets, Joel, Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah. It ex- 
hibits the corruptions of a declining age and of a declining 
literature. The words and idioms of surrounding nations 
were creeping into the Hebrew language, and the fires of 
poetic genius were burning languidly. The brightness 
of the flame had almost expended itself. He is very un- 
equal in his writings, as if he were a man of moods. He 
rises and sinks, in the same passage, from lofty and start- 
ling figures of speech to those which are low, and repulsive 
to our taste. The night of Hebrew poetry was approach- 
ing, and soon shut down. 

There are no predictions in the prophecies proper, for 
whose accuracy Jeremiah is responsible, which are so spe- 
cific as to make it necessary to suppose that any special 
divine aid was rendered him. His predictions of the 



304 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

captivity and restoration of the people are based upon the 
law ; and his affirmatiofis of the perpetuity of the house 
and throne of David were all drawn from the early pro?n- 
ises. As for the specific predictions contained in the his- 
torical, editorial notes, they are not sufficiently sustained 
by evidence as to their accuracy to justify any reliance upon 
them. No quotations from Jeremiah are made in the New 
Testament as prophetic, in the theological sense of the 
word, of events which occurred in the Christian era. 

Jeremiah was a patriot, a priest, a warm lover of his 
country. He gave all his powers of intellect and heart 
to the work of arresting the downfall of his nation, — but 
in vain. Injustice, dissipation, idolatry, and licentiousness 
had sapped the foundations, and the nation fell; and 
great was the fall of it. 

Lamentations is but an appendix to Jeremiah, and 
whether written by him or another poet, calls for no 
special examination. It is sufficient to remark that it is 
very artificial in its structure, as was shown in the chap- 
ter discussing the general subject of Hebrew poetry, to 
which the reader is referred. 

Section XL — EzekieL 

Ezekiel was the son of one Buzi, a priest, and was car- 
ried captive eleven years before the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, in company with King Jehoiachin, to the river 
Chebar, in Babylonia. He married, and built a house at 
Telabib. He began prophesying after he had been a 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 305 

captive five years, or six years before the destruction of 
Jerusalem, 594 b. c, — about the time that Jeremiah's 
letter was received by the exiles; and he prophesied 
twenty-two years, till Jerusalem had been in ruins sixteen 
years, — 572 b. c. 

His prophecy may be divided into three parts : (1) 
Prophecies delivered before the destruction of Jerusalem, 
chapters i.-xxiv. (2) Those about foreign nations, chap- 
ters xxv.-xxxii. (3) Those delivered after the destruction 
of Jerusalem, chapters xxxii.-xlviii. Of these, chapters 
xl.-xlviii. contain a description of the ideal temple, and 
of the division of the land after the return from captivity, 
which Ezekiel was not permitted to do; for he died, if 
tradition can be relied upon, before the decree of Cyrus 
was published, authorizing and directing the return. He 
was therefore a contemporary of Jeremiah ; but his prophe- 
cies are not so mixed up with traditional historical notices. 
The first two parts are mostly condemnatory, and the last 
one consolatory. 

The construction of the book is very artificial, as are 
also the separate prophecies. An analysis can be made 
of it as minute as of one of Cicero's orations or of a well- 
arranged treatise on morals. Rosenmiiller, in his intro- 
duction to his commentary on Ezekiel, has given a minute 
analysis of the whole book in Latin, the substance of 
which I will translate, to show with what extreme care 
the prophet wrote, and how little he was impelled, mas- 
tered, and carried away by a resistless enthusiasm. His 
prophecy is labored, — not spontaneous, irrepressible : 

20 



306 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

I. The inauguration of the prophet. (Chapters i.-iii.) 
i. An allegorical representation of God calling him to his 
prophetic office, i. 

2. The inauguration ceremonies, ii. 

3. The themes of his prophecies, expressed by various 

images and charges, iii. 

II. Superstitions and crimes rebuked, and the overthrow 
of the city and kingdom declared. (Chapters iv.-xxiv.) 

1. Denunciations against 

a. Jerusalem: (1) By the siege of the city, designated 

by the figure of burying a brick ; (2) By famine, — 
bread baked with dung ; (3) By destruction, — 
newly cut hair and threatenings. 

b. The mountains of Israel, where sacrifices had been 

offered to idols. 

c. The land of Israel, whose ruin is to be great, soon to 

come, unavoidable, lamentable, merited by their sins. 

2. The prophet in vision is transported to Jerusalem, and 

there are shown him : (a) Four kinds of idolatry, — 
images of Baal, of animals, of women weeping for 
Tammuz, of priests worshipping the sun ; (b) Divine 
judgments denounced, with restrictions, which the 
prophet cannot avert; (c) The august presence of 
Jehovah departing from the Temple, scattering coals 
through the city ; (d) Evil counsels of rulers ; prayers 
of the prophet in their behalf not answered, yet hope 
for them on repentance. The divine image having 
left the city, the prophet returns to Babylon and 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 307 

narrates what has happened. (The rhetorical origin 
and purpose of this visionary journey is too evident 
to need confirmation.) 

3. Denunciations against 

a. The king and people of Judah, under the double 

symbol of moving goods, and of eating in haste ; 
then, without symbol, the ridiculers of the delay of 
punishment. 

b. False prophets, — males and females. 

c. The elders of the people, for hypocrisy, following 

false prophets. 

d. Jerusalem, under the image of a burning vine, xv. 

e. The Jewish people, under the image of a virgin, xvi. 

f. Zedekiah, under the image of a vine and eagle, xvii. 

4. A vindication of the divine justice, and exhortation to 

repentance, xviii. 

5. The destruction of the royal family, under the figure 

of taken lions and dried vines, xix. 

6. A reproof of exiles, in Egypt, in the desert, in Canaan, 

and a promise of a holy state, xx. 

7. Threatenings against Jei-usalem, whose utter ruin is 

predicted, and the captivity of the people and the 
king ; against the Ammonites ; against the citizens of 
Jerusalem, wicked and doomed ; against the people 
of Judea, sinful and sentenced ; against the priests, 
rulers, prophets, and people, for hypocrisy and injustice 
and lying ; against each king of Israel and Judah, 
whose sins are enumerated ; against Jerusalem, under 
the symbol of a pot filled with meat and bones, and 
a widow weeping, xxi.-xxiv. 



308 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

ILT. Prophecies against foreign nations, (xxv.-xxxii.) 

Against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philis- 
tines, Tyrians, whose city is to be besieged, taken, over- 
thrown, and whose king will be taken captive ; against 
Sidon, and Egypt (whose king will be taken and the land 
devastated by Nebuchadnezzar, and the people dispersed 
and its fall compared with that of Assyria and lamented 
under the figure of a destroyed lion and sea-dragon, 
and compared further with the destruction of Assyria), 
and Elam, and Meshech, and Tubal, and Edom, and the 
princes of the North, — all of whom Pharaoh will meet 
in the underworld, and be comforted by their misery. 

IV. Consolations and promises, (xxxiii.-xlviii.) 

The whole of this portion is in prose. In the introduc- 
tion the office of a prophet is compared to that of a 
watchman. Then follow the promises he must make to 
the people now that he has heard that the city is de- 
stroyed. God is benignant, and will forgive their sins ; the 
happy re-establishment of the kingdom ; the joy of the 
people that Idumea is punished ; the glory and greatness 
of the restored state ; its restoration represented by the 
symbol of the valley of dry bones ; the Judeans and 
Israelites united under the symbol of two sticks joined in 
one ; the conflict and destruction of Gog ; and the divi- 
sion of the land and the construction of the Temple 
with its ritual ideally described, and their beneficence 
illustrated by a river flowing from the Temple to bless 
the nations. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 309 

It is evident that all this description is ideal, from the 
fact that it was utterly disregarded on the return of the 
exiles. Ezekiel does not place the Temple in the city, 
and constructs it a mile square. The city is ten miles 
square, and the tribes occupy rectangular portions of land 
bounded by straight lines running from east to west across 
the whole countiy. The Levites, the priests, and the 
prince have portions around the city and Temple. It is 
simply amazing that commentators have taken this ideal 
description as real, and have attempted to give drawings 
of what it would be impossible to construct. 

By this analysis it will be seen that the prophecies are 
arranged with a great deal of care, — entirely unlike the 
present condition of those of Jeremiah. 

The language of Ezekiel is somewhat corrupted by the 
later usage, and his association with his conquerors. His 
prophecies are more oratorical than poetic, and they sel- 
dom rise much above fervent prose. They are full of 
symbols, and some of these are coarse. The symbolism 
is colossal rather than beautiful, — as his symbol of the 
throne of Jehovah, which covered the whole northern 
heavens ; and the symbol of the tree on Lebanon, whose 
shadow covered great nations, and the mighty river which 
flowed from the Temple. Ezekiel is inferior to Jeremiah, 
and falls incomparably below Isaiah and the contempo- 
raries of that prophet. He was, however, a patriot as well 
as a priest, though as a poet he failed to rival his con- 
temporaries. But it must be admitted that, though some 
of his visions are grotesque, many of them are grand. 



3IO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

There is no proof that his prophecies were revelations. 
They are not quoted as such in the New Testament, and 
in the language he uses respecting them, interpreted ac- 
cording to the accepted rules of interpreting religious lan- 
guage, he makes no such claim for them. He was a 
devoted lover of his country and its religion, and conse- 
crated all his powers to their rescue from invasion and 
overthrow. And when these failed, and invasion and 
destruction came, then, confiding in the great lawgiver 
and the unbroken tradition of the nation, he announced 
the return and restoration. 

There are no specific predictions of our Saviour ; he 
only speaks of rich blessings and a peaceful state under 
wise rule and Jehovah's protection. 

Section XII. — Daniel. 

Much cannot be said of this book, for the purpose of 
this work will not permit it ; and if but little is said, the 
reader may feel dissatisfied, since it is the fountain of 
many vague and baseless theories, the arsenal for furnish- 
ing every conceivable kind of weapon to sciolists and 
pedants. Authorities cannot be quoted. Historical events 
here alluded to cannot be fully narrated. Even the 
authorship of the book cannot be discussed. I shall 
only state some of the undisputed facts in regard to it, 
and also the results of my own studies of it as agreeing 
in the main with those of the best and most reverent 
scholars in Christendom. If the readers of this brief 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 311 

Introduction have the desire and time for further and fuller 
information, they are referred to the elaborate introduc- 
tions and commentaries on this book which scholars of 
great ability have prepared. 

Daniel was a youth of noble birth who was made a 
captive by Nebuchadnezzar when he took Jerusalem, 
and carried to Babylon King Jehoiakim and some of the 
vessels of the house of God. He was brought up in 
the court of the king with his three companions, named 
Belteshazzar (Bel's prince), and was taught all the learn- 
ing as well as the language of the Chaldeans. Lest he 
should violate the law, he was granted such food as he 
might choose. He was brought into notice first by inter- 
preting Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and continued in high 
favor under the remaining Chaldean princes until he in- 
terpreted for Belshazzar the handwriting on the wall, and 
until Cyrus took the great city. Darius the Mede made 
Daniel the first of his three ministers. His rivals and ene- 
mies plotted against him, and he was cast into the lions' 
den for adhering to his religion and for praying three 
times a day with his face towards Jerusalem. After his 
deliverance from the den he continued in high favor with 
the court, and lived till the first year of Cyrus, if not till 
the third, as the accounts differ; chapters i. 21, x. 1. 
Such is the recorded tradition of his life. 

The Book of Daniel, as it comes to us in our Bible, 
has two divisions, — (1) The historical, or the traditions, 
chapter i.-vi., except the interpretation of Nebuchadnez- 
zar's dream ; and (2) The prophetic, chapters vii.-xii. 



312 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Chapter i. tells of the captivity ; chapter ii., of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's dream ; chapter hi., of the young men in the fiery 
furnace ; chapter iv., of Nebuchadnezzar driven to the 
field j chapter v., of Belshazzar's handwriting on the wall 
(538 b. c.) ; chapter vi., of Daniel's devotion and the lions' 
den. The contents of the second part will be taken up 
soon, after we have examined still further the condition 
of the book. 

The book is the plainest prose, and no attempt is 
made at literary ornament. That part of it which is in 
our Bible is in two languages ; chapters ii. 5— vii. are in 
the Chaldee language, or the language of Babylon, used 
by the Jews after the return from the captivity. The book 
is not placed in the Hebrew Bible with the prophets, but 
after Esther, as if it were not thought worthy to be classed 
with the prophetic books. In the Greek translation of 
the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, three other 
marvellous accounts are contained in the book, in charac- 
ter somewhat like those of Nebuchadnezzar's eating grass, 
the lions' den, the fiery furnace, and the handwriting on 
the wall, — " The History of Bel and the Dragon," at the 
end of our present book; "The Story of Susanna," at 
the beginning ; and " The Song [prayer] of the Three 
Children," in chapter iii., between the 23d and 24th 
verses. These three additions are in the Apocrypha, 
which is printed in the old family Bibles. 

It is evident from these facts that the Jews in old 
time looked upon this book very differently from the 
way in which they regarded the books of their ancient 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 313 

prophets, and no doubt for good reasons; but these 
reasons have not come down to us. Let us now turn 
to the prophetical part, leaving for the present the very 
marvellous incidents recorded in the other section. 

In chapter ii. the image represents five kingdoms, and 
purports to have been interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar 
(605 B.C.). 

In chapter vii. the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the 
dreadful beast with iron teeth, etc., ten horns and a little 
horn, and the thrones set, represent five kingdoms 
(557 B.C.). 

In chapter viii. the ram with two horns, the he-goat with 
a great horn, and the four horns, from out of them a little 
horn which shall be broken, represent four kingdoms, the 
first, the Babylonian, being dropped, as Babylon was to 
be destroyed at this time (554 b. a). 

In chapter xi. is a literal historical statement of what 
transpires till Antiochus Epiphanes is destroyed or dies, 
and the Jews are freed under the Maccabees from his 
tyrannical sway. The chapter, begins with the third king- 
dom, passing by Darius the Mede and his three succes- 
sors, — the ram with two horns, Media and Persia, who 
stirred up all Grecia. And a mighty king stands up and 
rules, — Alexander, symbolized by a leopard, and he-goat, 
and the belly and thighs of the image (chapter xi. 4) ; and 
his kingdom is broken into four, his posterity not suc- 
ceeding him. His four chief commanders divide his 
kingdom between them ; and this constitutes the fourth 
kingdom, represented in the image by legs and feet part 



314 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

iron and part clay, by the beast with ten horns and one 
little horn, and by the four horns out of which sprang one 
little horn. 

The north was held by Seleucus Nicator, called " one of 
his [Alexander's] princes" (chapter xi. 5), and Ptolemy 
Lagus held Egypt, and is called " the king of the south." 
Between these kingdoms perpetual wars raged, as history 
tells us, until about a century and a half before Christ. 
Intermarriages between the royal families were tried, and 
various treaties were made, but all in vain. Ten kings 
followed, imaged by the dreadful and terrible beast with 
ten horns. They were Seleucus Nicator, Antiochus Soter, 
Antiochus Theus, Seleucus Callinicus, Seleucus Ceraunus, 
Antiochus the Great, Seleucus Philopator, Heliodorus who 
was quickly poisoned, Demetrius who was sent to Rome as 
a hostage, and Ptolemy Philometer who was rightfully heir 
to the throne, but was dispossessed, as were the former 
two, of their just claim by Antiochus Epiphanes (vii. 24). 
He is the little horn of this ten-horned house of kings, 
and his history begins at chapter xi. 2 1, and goes through 
the eleventh chapter. Then in chapter xii. we have the 
rescue of the Jews from his power described as the stand- 
ing up of Michael, and the people are represented as 
coming out of their graves after their terrible sufferings 
for three years and a half under Antiochus Epiphanes, 
as Ezekiel represented their fathers as doing when they 
were restored from Babylon ; and peace and glory follow 
their deliverance. 

Some parts of the account given in chapter xi. can be 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 315 

followed in the minutest particulars in the scant historical 
records of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes which have 
come down to us. The portions not paralleled in history 
are undoubtedly as historical as the others, and should 
be so understood and received. 

Respecting the time mentioned in chapter ix. 24-27, 
seventy weeks, — or seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, one 
week, and half a week, — reference seems to be made in 
the sixty-two weeks to some event in early Jewish history, 
one year for each day, 434 ; in the seven weeks, 49 years, 
in all 483 years, to some event at that distance before the 
taking of Jerusalem by Antiochus ; in the one week, 7 years, 
to the time he ruled Jerusalem ; and in the half-week, to 
the three years and a half during which he took away the 
daily sacrifice and set up the image of Jupiter. The last 
dates correspond with the historical events. In chapter 
vii. 25, "a time and times and half a time " are the three 
and a half years already mentioned. In chapter viii. 14, 
the " 2300 evenings and mornings " are either so many 
days, or half the number, 1150, or possibly seven years 
or three years and a half. In chapter xii. 11, 1290 days, 
or about three and a half years, and 1335 days, or 45 
more, seem to be added to give time for hearing at 
Jerusalem of the death of the tyrant in the East, as he 
is supposed to have died at the end of three years and a 
half, or thereabouts, after the desecration of the Temple. 
But none of these dates can be proved to be correct. 
They certainly correspond very nearly with the scant 
historical dates which have been preserved. Antiochus 



3 l6 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

is said to have died in Persia after having plundered the 
temple at Elymas in Media to get money to aid him in 
carrying on the war against the Jews. 

The age of the book has been in debate among scholars 
for many years. The general opinion of those most 
worthy of confidence is, that it was mostly written near, or 
at, the close of the cruel reign of Antiochus, to encourage 
the Jews to endure his persecutions ; and that the history 
or traditions respecting the aged captive Daniel and his 
three companions are here given in his name as a prophet, 
as foretelling the severe trials through which they were 
passing, and the certain blessings of peace and prosperity 
which were to follow. The Lord would deliver them out 
of all their trouble, even from the dust of the earth in 
which they were sleeping. This view has fewer difficulties 
than any other, and best accounts for all the peculiarities of 
the book both in its style and its contents. 

One passage (chapter ix. 27, or xii. 11) is quoted in 
the New Testament (Matthew xxiv. 15) respecting " the 
abomination of desolation," the idol of the heathen, 
standing in the holy place. The Roman eagle on the 
standards of the Roman army was worshipped by the 
soldiers as a god ; and when that should be seen advanc- 
ing over the sacred soil against the city, the Christians 
should flee. This does not mean that the statue of 
Jupiter would be seen in the holy place, and the pas- 
sage has no reference to the statement of Daniel as a 
prophecy. As then, so now, when the idol is set up, 
beware, escape. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 317 

Section XIII. — Jonah. 

Jonah was the son of Amittai, of Gath Hepher, in Zebu- 
lun, and prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings 
xiv. 25), about 825 years before Christ. The book is 
called Jonah, not because that prophet wrote it, as is 
commonly supposed, but because it is about him. It 
may be divided into three parts : the first containing 
his commission, chapter i. ; the second, a hymn which 
he sang in the stomach of the fish, chapter ii. ; and the 
third, his prophecy against Nineveh, and its results, chap- 
ters iii., iv. 

The prophet refuses, in the first instance, to obey the 
command to go to the great and heathen city Nineveh 
and announce its destruction if it did not repent and re- 
form. He flees by ship from Joppa, but is overtaken by 
a storm. The superstitious sailors, having cast lots, throw 
him overboard, and he is swallowed by a great fish, in 
whose stomach he composes a prayer or hymn in poetry, 
— the only poetry in the book, made up of fragments from 
earlier poets, with little or none by the prophet himself. 
After three days and nights the fish throws him out on 
shore, and being commanded a second time, he goes to 
Nineveh and in its streets announces its destruction. The 
inhabitants repent and God spares the city. Meantime 
Jonah went out of the city and made himself a booth 
in which to watch the result, and a gourd grew up over 
his head to give him shade ; but the gourd withered in 
the morning, for a worm had found its root. Jonah was 



318 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

very angry when he saw that God had spared the repentant 
city, and reproached God for not keeping his prophet's 
word. He was also very much displeased, and even 
wished to die, because the gourd had withered. And 
God said, " Thou hadst pity on the gourd for which thou 
hadst not labored, which grew up in a night and perished 
in a night; and should I not spare Nineveh, that great 
city, wherein are more than one hundred and twenty 
thousand persons that cannot discern between their right 
hand and their left hand, and many cattle? " Such is an 
outline of the story told of Jonah. 

Until recently this has been supposed by most critics to 
be an account of a real transaction ; but it is much more 
probable that it is a book which was written at a late 
period, even after the return from the captivity, as the 
language indicates, for the purpose of illustrating the 
necessity of obedience to God's call to preach righteousness, 
the care he has for the heathen, that he is indeed their 
God also, as well as the God of Israel, and that he is 
merciful, and desires not the ruin of a?iy people. This is a 
most admirable theme ; and though it must be said that 
the illustration of it by the writer is not in accordance 
with our taste, yet to those to whom it was addressed it 
was undoubtedly most striking and impressive. Dean 
Stanley says : " It is a grand Biblical appeal to the com- 
mon instincts of humanity, and to the universal love of 
God against the narrow dogmatism of sectarian polemics. 
There has never been a generation which has not needed 
the majestic revelation of sternness and charity, each 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 319 

bestowed where most deserved and where least expected, 
in the sign of the prophet Jonah." The doctrine of 
this book is in harmony with Christianity. It is a moral 
and religious story of great worth and wide application. 
Let it be so understood, and not as a literal narration 
of real transactions. The name of the old prophet is 
used by the writer for effect, as we now use the names 
of great divines and statesmen to give attractiveness to 
our writings. 

Whoever composed this book was a very unskilful writer, 
though for his age a most remarkable theologian and mor- 
alist. He says that " Jonah prayed to the Lord his God 
out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine 
affliction unto the Lord and he heard me ; out of the belly 
of hell cried I, and thou heardest me," and so on, — using 
the past tense all through the poetic prayer which the 
author says Jonah offered " when he was in the belly of 
the fish." The prayer is reported, so to speak, by the 
author in the person of Jonah, in the first person ; but he 
forgets to change the tenses of his verbs so that the prayer 
may correspond with the time in which he says it was 
offered. He also makes Jonah, in this prayer, offered as 
he says in the belly of the fish, express gratitude that the 
Lord had brought up his life from corruption ; and he is 
now, let it be observed, in the belly of the fish. Indeed 
the whole book, or story, is put together very bunglingly. 
But its doctrine is most admirable, — a jewel very badly 
set. 



320 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Section XIV. — Haggai. 

Very little is known of the life of this prophet. He is 
referred to in Ezra (chapter v. i and vi. 14) as a con- 
temporary of Zechariah, 520 b. c, in the second year of 
Darius Hystaspis, sixteen years after the return of Zerub- 
babel and his company from the captivity. Immediately 
on their return they built an altar and began the observ- 
ance of the ritual in the Mosaic law as far as their desti- 
tute circumstances would permit, and also began to erect 
a temple on the ruins of the old one. But they were hin- 
dered by a decree of the king from continuing the work, as 
they were represented to him by their enemies as building 
a strong fortification in which to defend themselves when 
they should revolt from him. Haggai induced Darius to 
rescind the decree of his predecessor (Ezra, chapter vi.), 
and the prophet, supported by the prophet Zechariah, 
exhorted them to go on and build the Temple. So the 
people, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, set about the 
work in good earnest, and finished it in six years, to 
the great joy of the people, though some of the elders 
wept because the former temple, which they remembered, 
was so much more splendid than the one which they were 
able to build. 

The book is composed of four parts : (1) Severe re- 
proofs are given for dilatoriness in setting about the work ; 
chapter i. (2) The glory of the second temple is de- 
scribed ; chapter ii. 1-9. (3) The unfruitful seasons which 
they were experiencing were caused by their neglect to 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 321 

press on the work of temple building (chapter ii. 10-19), 
as affirmed in Deuteronomy, chapter xxviii. (4) The 
prosperity which would follow its completion is described ; 
chapter ii. 20-23. Of these four parts the first two were 
delivered in the sixth and seventh months of the second 
year of Darius, and the last two on the twenty-fourth day 
of the ninth month of the same year. 

The historical introduction to each brief prophecy is in 
prose, and the poetry of the prophecies is poor and un- 
spirited. There is no special prediction, and probably we 
have but the briefest outline of what the prophet said. In 
the vivid and hyperbolic language of Oriental poetry he 
depicts the fall of kingdoms before the rising power of the 
Jews, thus filling them with courage and hope. 

There is one passage which has been understood as a 
specific prediction of the Messiah, Christ (chapter ii. 7) : 
" And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations 
shall come ; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the 
Lord of hosts." Our Bible has gone so far as to print 
"Desire" with a capital letter, to denote a person. The 
actual reference is to the contributions which the nations 
would make of their most precious things to adorn the 
Temple and make it glorious. Dr. Noyes's translation of 
the passage is correct : — 

" And I will shake the nations, 
And here shall come the precious things of all the nations : 
And I will fill this house with glory." 

It is time that the Messiah should no longer be identi- 
fied with the " precious things " mentioned in this verse. 

21 



322 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Such mistranslations in the Common Version increase the 
value of the Revised Version of the Old Testament, in 
which these passages are correctly rendered. 

There is no evidence that Haggai had any divine 
communication of future events, or direction in respect 
to what he should say of the present. Like every true 
preacher, he speaks as an earnest lover of his country 
what he believes to be God's truth. 

Section XV. — Zechariah. 

The editor of Zechariah's prophecies, or Zechariah him- 
self, if he had no editor, calls himself the son of Barachiah, 
the son of Iddo. He is mentioned in Ezra (chapter v. i, 
and vi. 14) in connection with Haggai, and was his con- 
temporary. He was of priestly descent, and came from 
Babylon with the returning exiles. He entered on his 
prophetic office only two months after Haggai ; and con- 
sequently the same condition of the people called for the 
same rebukes and exhortations and promises from him as 
from Haggai. 

His book may be divided into two parts. The first 
part contains a series of visions relating to the Temple and 
the people (chapters i.-viii.), except chapters vii., viii. 
which are in answer to a message from Babylon. The 
second part contains neither symbols nor visions, and is 
written in a very different style. It appears to have been 
composed by a very different person, and even before 
the exile, — perhaps by a Zechariah mentioned by Isaiah 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 323 

(chapter viii. 2), a son of Berechiah. The first part is 
mixed prose and poetry, like Haggai. The second part 
is all poetry of a pure age, as the language shows. The 
first part relates to the building of the Temple ; the sec- 
ond part to the sins of the people, the desolation of the 
land, the destruction of the city, and the return of the 
captives. 

In the first part the different visions are often dated, 
and sometimes more than one vision occurs under the 
same date. As these visions all have reference to the 
building of the Temple and to the blessings which will fol- 
low its completion, it is not necessary here to enumerate 
them or interpret them. Especially is Joshua encouraged 
to press forward the work by various symbols and visions, 
since he seems to have borne the brunt of the opposi- 
tion both of his own people and of the Samaritans ; and 
Zerubbabel is also encouraged by the affirmation that 

" Not by might nor by power, 
But my spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
What art thou, O great mountain [of opposition and obstacles 

before him] ? 
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain ! 
And he shall bring forth the corner-stone amid shoutings, 
[The people crying] Grace, grace unto it ! " — iv. 6, 7. 

Some interpreters have supposed that passages in this 
first part refer to Christ, and especially chapter vi. 12, 13 : 

" Behold a man whose name is the Branch; 
He shall spring up from his place, 
And he shall build the temple of Jehovah. 
Even he shall build the temple of Jehovah, 



324 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

And he shall bear the majesty, 

And sit and rule upon his throne, 

And be a priest upon his throne, 

And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." 

But who is the builder of the Temple but Zerubbabel? 
And the counsel of peace was between him and Joshua, 
who is said to be addressed. 

There is nothing in this prophecy which required super- 
natural assistance to affirm, nor is such assistance claimed. 
The manner in which the prophet speaks of his addresses 
and his call to deliver them is such as is used to this day 
by very many pious preachers, and has been used during 
all time, and is no proof of special divine illumination. 
The visions and symbols are only devices to give force 
and attractiveness to the prophet's message. They are 
not to be read as real transactions. 

The writer of the second part is unknown ; but, as just 
stated, it is very evident that he lived before the exile, for 
he speaks of judgments coming upon Damascus, and the 
destruction of Judah, if not of Israel. His style is pure, 
and his poetry compares well with that of the earlier 
prophets. He prophesies of the destructio?i and captivity 
and restoration of the nation, as do the other older 
prophets, without being so specific as to exceed human 
foresight under the guidance of the law. 

A few passages from this part are quoted in the New 
Testament, and applied to Christ on account of their ap- 
propriateness, and not because this unknown prophet had 
Christ in his mind when he spoke them. 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 325 

Chapter ix. 9 is quoted in Matthew xxi. 5, and John xii. 

14, I 5 ; — 

" Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, 
Shout, daughter of Jerusalem ! 
Behold, thy king cometh to thee ; 
He is just and victorious, 
Mild, and riding upon an ass, 
Even upon a colt the foal of an ass. 
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, 
And the horse from Jerusalem ; 
And the battle-bow shall be cut off. . . . 
I will set thy prisoners free from the pit wherein is 110 water" 

And just before these verses Jehovah says : — 

" The king shall perish from Gaza, 
And Askelon shall not be inhabited. 
And strangers shall dwell in Ashdod, 
And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines ; " 

showing that the reference is to passing events. We 
cannot tell who this king was whom the prophet had 
in mind, or whether he had any one person in mind, or 
simply meant that Jehovah would give them a good ruler 
shortly after these events. The quotation in Matthew is 
in the common form, and is no stronger than that in chap- 
ter ii. 15, where the Evangelist quotes a simple historical 
statement as appropriate to express a circumstance in the 
life of Christ. 

Another passage, chapter xi. 13, is quoted in Matthew 
xxvii. 9, and applied to the purchase-money of Judas. In 
the quotation Jeremy is undoubtedly a mistake for Zecha- 
riah. When we read the passage in the prophet, it is 



326 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

evident at a glance that he had in mind a present sym- 
bolic transaction, and had not the remotest reference to 
a future event, — much less to the purchase-money of 
Judas. 

Chapter xii. 10 is also quoted in John xix. 37 ; but the 
connection in the prophet shows, as does the previous 
verse in John, that these passages are quoted only because 
the language is appropriate to describe incidents in the 
sufferings of Christ, — not because they predicted these 
incidents. The reference to not breaking the bones of 
the paschal lamb is purely historical ; Exodus xii. 46. 

Chapter xiii. 7 is quoted in Matthew xxvi. 31 in the 
same way and for the same purpose. There is no predic- 
tion of the Messiah, but of the cutting off of a king before 
the exile, after whose death the people would be scattered, 
and only a remnant rescued. 

It is a matter of great regret that this method of 
quotation by Jewish writers is not better understood by 
readers of our Bible ; for much misapprehension would 
then be avoided. 

Section XVI. — Malachi. 

Of the life of this last prophet we know absolutely 
nothing. As the Temple was rebuilt and the ritual ob- 
served, he may have prophesied 460-450 b. c, or still 
later, 420-408 b. c. The history of these times will be 
found in Nehemiah. Malachi declares God's love of the 
nation (chapter i. 1-5), and vehemently rebukes the priests 



INTRODUCTION TO SEPARATE BOOKS. 327 

for their violations of the law and their complaints of the 
dulness of their duty with a good deal of poetic vigor 
for his age (chapters i. 6-ii. 9). He denounces their 
foreign marriages and frequent divorces (chapter ii. 10-16), 
and threatens punishment when he is scoffingly asked, 
"Where is the God of judgment?" by an avenging 
messenger whom the Lord will send ; and the sorcerers 
and false swearers who boast themselves will be cut off 
(chapters ii. 17-iii. 6). He rebukes the people for de- 
frauding the Temple revenue of tithes and offerings, and 
promises them, if they will bring them and regard the 
law of Jehovah, that he will pour out a blessing upon 
them from the open windows of heaven till there is noth- 
ing left which they require (chapter iii. 7-12.) Nor need 
they flatter themselves that they shall escape because God 
is forbearing and has not visited them as they deserve. 
Punishment will at last come ; for the day will come that 
will consume all the proud and the wicked ; they shall be 
consumed as stubble ; but the righteous shall be saved, 
they shall prosper, they shall be glad. " Only remember 
the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded in Horeb 
for all Israel, — my statutes and my precepts ! I will send 
one like Elijah, a prophet of power and courage, who shall 
warn and reprove, counsel and instruct you, before the day 
of terrible visitation come on you for your sins, that you 
may have no excuse for not reforming. And many of 
you will reform at his teaching ; for he will turn many 
to obedience and observance of the law, so that God will 
not come and smite the land with a curse, as he smote it 



328 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

in the days of the captivity, when your fathers sinned and 
repented not." 

Malachi iii. i is quoted in Matthew xi. 10, and applied 
to John as the forerunner of Christ. The appropriateness 
of the quotation in accordance with Jewish usage is at 
once seen. If the reader turns to Malachi, however, he 
will see that this was the prophet or messenger to be sent 
to rebuke the people for their sins and bring them to 
repentance, if possible, before Jehovah would visit them 
with punishment. The hour and the coming were at that 
time not four centuries away. 

The annunciations of this last prophet are based upon 
the law given by Moses, and do not indicate any divine 
illumination in the speaker. 

His style is much more poetical and elevated than that 
of either Haggai or Zechariah. The patriotic heart of the 
prophet beats high ; and he vindicates the mercifulness 
and forbearance of Jehovah, as do all his predecessors. 

Here conclude the writings of the Hebrew prophets, 
whose addresses are as lofty as they are pure and as 
enduring as they are elevated. In their treatment of 
great moral and religious truths they are unique in the 
world's literature of that age, not to say of any age 
before the Christian era; and they will continue to be 
read by all who admire loftiness of theme and sublimity 
of expression. 



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